Conversations with the CEO: The Year of Dichotomy

5/8/2026 

After all the uncertainty that last year brought to the arts in NSW, 2026 is a very different year. In my head I have been calling it The Year of Dichotomy. We have a set of conditions that are undeniably difficult including cost of living affecting accessibility to arts experiences and therefore ticket sales, cost of operations making it more and more difficult for people to stretch their budgets far enough, increasing challenges in compliance the need to navigate the uncharted waters of the issues of these times including AI and climate change. Yet these things are playing out against a backdrop of government policy and strategy that is proactively positive in ways that we haven’t witnessed before.  

Late 2026 will see the first iteration of the NSW Government’s Creative Statement to Parliament. This reporting mechanism is new – although it seems to already have adopted its acronym of the CSP. I optimistically believe that the CSP could be a significant gamechanger for the place of the arts within the broader NSW government agenda, so I will be watching with interest when it is delivered in October. 

So what is the CSP and why does it matter? Most of us in the arts are – at least to some extent – aware that NSW has an arts and creative industries policy: Creative Communities launched in December 2023. During the 10 year life of this policy from 2024-2033 there are a number of strategies hanging off the policy including plans for digital games, contemporary music, fashion and writing/literature. There are also the two geographical strategies: one for Western Sydney and our own most relevant plan for regional NSW: Heartland. What many people did not know was that it was legislated in 2024-25 that “The responsible Minister must prepare and table a comprehensive statement on the creative industries in both Houses of Parliament at least once every three years”. For the first time we have a policy, some strategies and a legislated accountability to deliver on those plans. 

Those of us that work in regional arts development are very familiar with the challenges of constantly having to defend our usefulness and to make the case for why the arts are more than something that is just nice to have. From what I understand, the work is now being done within government through Create NSW to demonstrate that the arts operate across all parts of government, and that their value comes through outcomes that produce social benefits as well as economic and, of course, cultural gains. I am very interested to see if the Creative Statement to Parliament does indeed produce valuable data and evidence, so I will be watching with interest in October. 

Meanwhile, we continue to make good things happen despite hard times. This is nothing new for us in the arts. But I am a bit of a Pollyanna. We have both a national and state arts policy with legislated accountability, we have a regional strategy in NSW with additional funds, we have even recently had an uplift to arts funding in the NSW budget at a time when other sectors are experiencing cuts. So, I have decided to focus on the positives and seek new ways of thinking about how we can help the arts thrive in times of hardship in The Year of Dichotomy. I think we will achieve more that way. 

– Dr Tracey Callinan OAM, CEO of Regional Arts NSW