New research ranks Melbourne top of the country, though the order reshuffles once you factor in population.
Melbourne has been named the best Australian city for aspiring artists in a new study from Wentworth Galleries.
The group compared the country’s 50 biggest urban areas across four measures: the density of galleries and studios, the presence of museums and performing arts venues, the number of live arts events, and the share of local workers in arts and media roles.
Melbourne topped the overall table with a perfect index score of 100, ahead of Sydney on 87.4 and a distant Brisbane on 45.7. The gap after the leading pair is steep, sliding all the way to 5.9 by the time the list reaches Hobart in tenth.
The top 10 overall
- Melbourne – 100.0
- Sydney – 87.4
- Brisbane – 45.7
- Adelaide – 29.7
- Perth – 23.4
- Gold Coast – Tweed Heads – 11.1
- Canberra – Queanbeyan – 9.9
- Newcastle – Maitland – 9.5
- Sunshine Coast – 7.4
- Hobart – 5.9
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Melbourne’s win comes down to how much is on rather than infrastructure alone. The study counted 524 live arts events running in the city against Sydney’s 380, the widest gap between the top two.
Sydney still employs the most people in arts and media of any city measured, at 23,338 compared with Melbourne’s 18,331, and holds the highest arts employment share nationally.
A different story per person
The order changes when the same data is measured per resident. Both Melbourne and Sydney fall out of the top 10 entirely, landing 12th and 13th, overtaken by a run of much smaller cities.
- Coffs Harbour – 100.0
- Bowral – Mittagong – 97.9
- Busselton – 86.8
- Port Macquarie – 68.2
- Devonport – 64.5
Coffs Harbour records more event listings per resident than anywhere else in the study, well ahead of Melbourne’s rate. Bowral – Mittagong posts the highest share of arts and media workers of any city outside Sydney.
The per capita figures put several regional centres above the capitals, reflecting denser arts activity relative to their smaller populations. On raw scale, Melbourne and Sydney still account for most of the country’s galleries, studios, working artists and buyers.
The listing numbers reflect a snapshot taken in June 2026, covering events listed as upcoming at that point. The arts and media employment data comes from the ABS Census, which groups both occupations as one category that can’t be split further at a city level.
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