Creative industries

Creative sectors and occupations account for almost $23 billion in gross value added, and make up about eight per cent of the Victorian economy.

Victoria’s creative industries include a diverse range of fields including arts and culture, design, games and screen. The creative industries are significant to Victoria's culture, economy and society and central to its future.

Driving Victoria’s exports and cultural tourism

The creative and cultural industry offers both export and cultural tourism opportunities for investors – generating around $1.4 billion in exports and attracted cultural tourism worth $1 billion .

Overall, the creative industries employ approximately 220,000 people state-wide and has wide-ranging social and cultural impacts that resonate across our communities.

Creative industries are an evolving mix of sectors spanning arts and culture, screen and design. They cover disciplines as diverse as game development and graphic design, fashion and filmmaking, media and music, comedy and craft; and include activities that are both commercially-driven and community-based, experimental and export-intense.

Our creative industries are important to our prosperity. They will drive new approaches to job creation and industry innovation. As our economy transitions and the new jobs of the future emerge, creative industries will be increasingly important to the economic future of the next generation.

Find out more about some of these opportunities below. You can also visit the Creative Victoria website for more information.

Games

Representing close to half of Australia’s digital games industry, Victoria is home to 90 game development studios, animation houses and games industry service providers – ranging from leading global companies to smaller boutique developers. Work produced in Victoria makes an impact on a global stage.

Design

More than 195,000 people in Victoria are employed in design roles – in everything from graphic design, branding and communications design, architecture, industrial and digital design, interior design and landscape design, user experience design, fashion design, urban design and more.

This represents a significant part of the Victorian economy (around A$7 billion annually) and generates more than A$200 million in design related exports.

Screen

Victoria is one of Australia’s premier destinations for film and TV – it’s Australia’s home of television drama, has one of Australia’s major film studios (Docklands Studios Melbourne) and runs one of the oldest film festivals in the world, the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Our film and television sector contributes around $1.3 billion to the Victorian economy each year and employs more than 10,000 people.

Find out more about Melbourne’s creative industries at Creative Victoria – Our strategy.

Victoria's strengths

Victoria is the national leader in visual and performing arts
The state is home to leading libraries, galleries and museums
Host to a myriad of festivals and dynamic literary and live music scenes

Melbourne hosts 62,000 live music concerts each year and Victoria has three times more live music performances than the national average
Victoria is home to more songwriters than anywhere else in the country
Our literary and publishing sector has been recognised internationally with the designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.

Useful websites

Business and investment

Industry associations

Please note: The information, services and views expressed that may appear on any linked websites are not necessarily endorsed by the Skilled and Business Migration Program and the Victorian Government. It is recommended that you make your own enquiries as to the appropriateness and suitability of the information on this site for your particular circumstances.