Arts Hub, Jo Pickup
15 December 2025

Released last week, the ninth biannual Theatre Network Australia salary review report provides a host of pertinent insights into employment trends within what is currently one the most vulnerable areas of the arts, the small-to-medium performing arts sector.

Drawing on data from 92 Australian performing arts organisations with annual turnovers of between $250,000 and $4 million, the survey charts the persistently lagging salaries of small-to-medium arts company employees – even in roles that enjoyed healthy increases over the past two years.

According to TNA’s survey, small-to-medium arts company Executive Directors are earning an average salary of $104,713, while the Australian jobs site Seek.com.au puts the expected salary range of an Australian Executive Director, working in any industry, at between $200,000 and $220,000.

International data platform Payscale.com also presents an average estimate for the salary of an Australian Executive Director, but its listing is more modest at $154,000, though still 50% higher than the average on offer in the small-to-medium arts sector.

However, there is one arts salary listed in the report whose current average salary sits within the national average range.

Arts Administrators’ salaries in the small-to-medium sector averaged $68,132 over the 2024 to 2025 period, while administrators employed across the Australian workforce at large can expect to be paid between $65,000 to $80,000, according to Seek.com.au’s average figures.

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