Created In Partnership With Support Act
For years, conversations around wellbeing in creative industries have centred on resilience: push through the late nights, absorb instability, keep creating. But as the cost-of-living crisis continues and the threat of AI looms ominously over the shoulders of all creatives, the industry is facing a severe mental health crisis.
Workers across the creative arts are hitting a breaking point and speaking more openly about the realities behind the scenes. From burnout to irregular income, the pressure to remain visible and the challenge of sustaining a creative life over the long term leave workers feeling overlooked.
Riley Nelson* has experienced this first-hand. The film and television post-producer was out of work for over six months in 2025, creating a mental health battle that nearly saw them leave the industry altogether.
“I work on project-to-project contracts. This means work comes in six-week to six-month bursts. The money is good when the work is there, but then there are periods where nothing is happening.”
As a result, Riley can’t save money as the quieter months force them to chip into their savings to keep their head above water, all whilst looking for any sort of casual work to fill in the gaps. Their confidence and mental health pay the price, and the existential reality of working in the creative industry becomes starker with each passing year.
“I’m currently weighing up my career options. The future of screen doesn’t look all that stable.”
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What Help Is Available?
In 2024, Support Act, Australia’s leading mental health organisation for creative workers, surveyed 1, 518 workers across the arts. Its results painted a stark picture of the industry’s current state.
Almost a fifth (19.6%) of all respondents reported a total annual income that sits below the poverty line for a single working person. The cost of living was cited as the biggest challenge of working in the sector, followed by 56.5% of people saying low income in the industry was impacting them the most.
Burnout and fatigue, job insecurity, and a lack of opportunities due to venue closures and festival cancellations were also cited as challenges facing workers. Over half of the survey participants (53.5%) reported high or very high levels of psychological distress.
Support Act has historically been known for its work within Australia’s music industry, but its mental health programs and support services now extend across a broader creative ecosystem. It reflects the reality that burnout, financial pressure, and job sustainability aren’t confined to one single sector of the creative industry.
Its range of services includes free and confidential mental health support through the national Wellbeing Helpline, alongside training and workshops designed specifically for the environments creative workers operate in. Support Act’s goal is to help creatives (and creative workplaces) stay healthy, safe, and sustainable.
As job cuts, wage stagnation and the threat of Australia becoming an “artless country” persist, mental health is becoming less of an individual conversation and more of a collective response to the pressure. It’s one that, if not addressed soon, will define the future of Australia’s creative industries and, as a result, our place on the cultural world stage.
Get support from Support Act.
*Name changed for anonymity
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