Over 16 million Australians actively participate in the arts, according to new research released by the Australia Council for the Arts. Overall, 15-24 year olds are the most creative, with 60% participating in at least one art form — including visual arts and crafts, music, theatre, dance, reading, writing and music. The second highest were 25-34 year olds with a 44 per cent participation rate.

The 15 to 24 group increased its involvement in the arts, more likely through the internet.

Kathy Keele, CEO of the Australia Council for the Arts, says, “This age group is not only using the internet to discover more shows, but is using it as a creative launching pad. They are for instance writing online, creating digital images and collaborating online with others.”

The arts was getting more inclusive, and more people embraced it because (a) they thought it made life more meaningful; and (b) only one third thought the arts was elitist and pretentious, compared to half who thought so in an Australia Council survey in 1999. There’s also been a considerable rise in interest in indigenous arts.

Visual arts and crafts is the most popular creative activity (22% of people did some form of painting, sewing, woodwork or art photography for example). 7% of the 3,000 surveyed wrote a novel or short story, and 5% (or 900,000) wrote poetry. Tasmania had the highest level of arts attendance at 97% of the popular, followed by Northern Territory (96%) and the ACT (93%).