For many, 2025 was a tough year in the arts, with waves of job cuts, funding reduced. And yet, as always, our sector found optimism in the gloom and showed resilient professionalism.
We asked nine arts professionals what shaped their organisation or practice in 2025, to help us take the pulse.
Views on 2025:
Nicole Durling, Executive Director Craft Victoria (Vic)
In a year defined by uncertainty, Craft chose to lean into possibility. We embraced our agility as a strength, being nimble, entrepreneurial, and deeply committed to creating impact that matters. This was a year of reimagining what sustainability looks like for a creative organisation: not just survival but thriving through innovation and connection.
We witnessed a renewed energy in our membership, a groundswell of artists and audiences united by a shared belief in the power of creativity. Through Craft Agency, we unlocked new horizons – a not-for-profit model that transforms representation into opportunity, generating income and building futures for artists.
It’s more than a program; it’s a vision for a creative economy where cultural, social, and economic impact intertwine. With income flowing directly to artists and collaborations strengthening local investment, 2025 became a year of bold steps forward for Craft, cultivating a thriving ecosystem and reaffirming why creativity matters.
Jo Thomas, CEO + Creative Director, Artrage / Perth Fringe World (WA)
2025 was hot. Literally. Summer in Perth for FRINGE WORLD was blazing and fabulous, and yet our half a million audience members didn’t melt — they came, they laughed, they cheered, and the city felt alive in a way that reminded us why we do this.
Behind the curtain, we rolled up our sleeves for a comprehensive operational review, which felt less like paperwork and more like a spring-clean for the brain: clarifying our processes, sharpening our focus, and imagining the next strategic chapter.
And somewhere in between the hard work and the heat, we were thrilled to pick up our first WA Tourism Awards for both FRINGE WORLD and Rooftop Movies – proof that courage, creativity, and a lot of coffee really do pay off.
And behind every moment, the 2,700 artists we worked with gave everything: bringing our stages and venues to life, shaping experiences that showed what a city can be when creativity leads the way.
2025 was intense, unpredictable and exhilarating; a year that reminds us that stubbornness, connection and a little audacity are at the heart of everything we do in the arts.
Angela Goddard, outgoing Director, Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane (Qld)
We found ourselves in a challenging environment again this year, which, whilst no longer an existential one, made us consider our core business and our base principles.
Why are we here? what is our purpose as an institution and as a community, and what can we do better?
It’s no secret that universities are in a tough economic and risk-averse situation, and disciplines such as Arts and Humanities, within which sit some of Australia’s most vital and critically engaged arts institutions, are having to demonstrate their value more than ever.
This precarious environment also necessitates that we give additional care to our staff, students and colleagues so they feel as supported and secure as possible.
But I have great belief in our core mission and values. And I believe we can adapt to meet new challenges while remaining focused on what we do well, and continue to support excellence in our arts community and the audiences who support us.
Read: Griffith University Art Museum celebrates 50 years of collecting contemporary Australian art
Antony Hamilton, Artistic Director + co-CEO, Chunky Move (Vic)
In 2025, artists and arts companies were defined by their resilience amid an atmosphere of continued economic challenge and uncertainty.
Nevertheless, Chunky Move has been guided, as ever, by going for the extraordinary, taking big bold risks in our commitment to genre defying-contemporary dance.
Our year was shaped by the idea that dance is a creative language without borders. Our major work U>N>I>T>E>D, commissioned by Asia TOPA, Esplanade – Theatres by the Bay Singapore and Perth Festival, involved collaboration with the extraordinary Indonesian techno iconoklasts Gabber Modus Operandi and Naarm’s own internationally renowned animatronics production house Creature Technology Co.
We travelled the work to the Biennale Danza Venice, da:ns focus – Connect Asia Now Singapore, Camping Asia Taipei, and Freespace Dance At WestK Hong Kong. It is wonderful to be reminded that dance is thriving as an artform of exchange, generosity, wonder and global dialogue, and that Chunky Move is at the forefront of the conversation.
Tom Mùller, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Fremantle Biennale (WA)
The opportunity to co-create a festival (the 2025 Fremantle Biennale, SANCTUARY) that deepened our sense of place and brought together thinkers and creatives from across our State, the nation, and around the world stands out as a defining highlight for me in recent months.
It underscored the vital role of people as living artworks – repositories of knowledge and advocates for better shared futures.
On a more pragmatic level, in 2025 we also saw the last-minute ticket purchasing trend continue, which caused uncertainty across the board.
In terms of the sector at large, my observations are that we are reminded time and time again how very important it is to keep supporting our industry as it helps us examine the world we live in, and asks all the hard questions that are so needed to create a better place to live in.
Our sector also seems to be highly institutionalised, and there is a general fear to go above and beyond. I would welcome more risk-taking and a pushing of the regulatory envelope. I would also like to see the sector working more closely with local government, holding them more accountable and ensuring they are being more dynamically active around the arts and in their capacities to work with artists.
Read: Which exhibitions got 5-star reviews in 2025?
Zoe Graham, CEO/Director Museum of Brisbane (Qld)
Our values have been our north star this year, shaping purposeful and considered approaches to how we work with each other, with the community and with the artists and creative partners who bring our programs to life.
Collaboration has been at the heart of this. We’ve welcomed communities into the creative process, empowering them to share their stories in their own voices. Highlights include Shimmer, a collaboration between artist Gerwyn Davies and a group of trans and gender diverse young people from Open Doors Youth Service, and Stories You Wear: Magpie Goose, a vibrant celebration of First Peoples culture, art and design, developed in partnership with proudly Aboriginal owned and led fashion and social enterprise Magpie Goose.
The impact of our community-engaged approach has been immediate and transformational for the participating creatives, for audiences, and for the Museum team.
We’re energised by all that lies ahead.
NELL, artist (NSW)
The two words that best describe 2025 for me are: Tony Albert. Together with UAP (United Artist Projects in Brisbane), we worked on a play sculpture for the last five years that opened to the public at Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in September this year.
Over this period, I observed Tony bring out the best in everyone he worked with, including me. It was a dream collaboration and you can feel this same sense of joy, ease and connection in The Big Hose.
This month, Tony was awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters and After the Rain: The 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial opened at National Gallery of Australia (NGA). As the Artistic Director of the Triennial, Tony invited artists ‘to consider what grows beyond disruption’.
After the Rain is beautiful and profound. I am continually inspired by my friends and colleagues, who like Tony are changing the world from right here on Country in Australia. Goodbye cultural cringe. 🙂
Read: ‘You can’t unread a smile’: Nell opens joyful 30-year survey Face Everything
Bree Pickering, Director, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra (ACT)
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is leveraging curatorial practice and the power of Australian icons to drive national engagement with the art of portraiture.
Joan Ross’ Those trees came back to me in my dreams re-presented the Gallery’s colonial era works, linking contemporary practice with a long history of artists determining the world as we see it.
Thom Roberts delivered us the world according to Thom and the collection grew to include its first portrait of emotions (Fan of Feeling Portriffs).
Our increasingly ambitious commissioning program elevated art and sport together in the national consciousness in Angela Tiatia’s moving image portrait of the entire 2023 Matildas squad – an impossible achievement.
Tina Arena taught us that sometimes it takes 50 years and the right artist and creative team to reveal a subject as they’ve always hoped to be seen.
We invited the public to choose a subject for our collection and Costa Georgiadis was the result. To end the year, Kaylene Whiskey reminded us that collective joy is a powerful force.
Read: In conversation with Tina Arena: 50 years on from her Young Talent Time debut
Kate Fell, Artistic Director Darwin Festival (NT)
There is no getting away from the financial challenges of putting on festivals and this year there were months of being deep in spreadsheets and negotiating with everyone to try and create a festival with impact, scale, and depth.
What we learnt from this year was that the challenge of finite resources makes you have a laser sharp focus on the choices you make. And in doing this, it shines the light on what reaches and connects with audiences, and what truly has impact.
A joy of this year was curating an ultimate city-wide adventure with over 110 events across 50 venues to explore. Locals and visitors alike loved exploring the city – from events on harbour cruises to music concerts with the stunning sunsets as the backdrop – Darwin was the star of this year’s festival.
And we got to invite lots of our arts friends to the party – we partnered with PAC Australia to bring APAX to Darwin with many people experiencing for the first time the magic of Darwin in August.
