A 1980s cost-of-living crisis gave Australia a thriving arts program – could we do it again?

The cost-of-living crisis is hitting the arts hard. Artists struggle to survive on poverty wages and audiences are getting priced out. This challenge is not unprecedented. In the 1980s, another cost-of-living crisis sparked a bold and imaginative model for embedding artists into the everyday rhythms of working life. This article reflects on the Art and Working Life program, an historic community arts program managed by the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. It examines how the program responded to a previous cost of living crisis and the conditions necessary to revive such a program today.