Despite another challenging year due to COVID-19, Australia's National Cultural Institutions have continued to cultivate our national collections, with the number of objects and the proportion available online reaching record highs in 2020–21.
These findings show the important ongoing role of our national museums and galleries in Australia's cultural landscape—and the growing trend towards online access and digitisation as COVID-19 continues to change how we live, work, learn and interact.
Even with these challenges, access to arts and culture has remained important to Australians throughout this period and our National Collecting Institutions have increased digital access to their collections, benefiting audiences nationwide and around the world.
We work collaboratively with the National Cultural Institutions to highlight the key role they play and to better understand trends in their activities.
This is the ninth year this data has been captured, building a comprehensive picture of trends in visits, audience reach and educational programs over time.
2020–21 results
2020–21 trends
The National Cultural Institutions are:
Australian National Maritime Museum
The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia
The National Library of Australia
The National Museum of Australia
The Australia Council for the Arts
The Australian Film, Television and Radio School
All National Cultural Institutions included in the data are within the Australian Government's arts portfolio, with the exception of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, which is within the portfolio of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.