Australian Youth Orchestra
The Arts8
AYO is a proud member of Arts8, alongside ANAM, The Australian Ballet School, AFTRS, Flying Fruit Fly Circus, NAISDA, NICA, and NIDA. Collectively, the Arts8 organisations foster the creative talent needed to sustain Australia’s performing and screen arts industries well into the future. Supported by the Commonwealth Government through the Office for the Arts, these institutions prepare students for careers in a sector contributing $122.3 billion annually to the economy.
The restoration of AYO’s government funding to pre-2016 levels, announced in the 2024 Federal Budget, strengthens our ability to provide vital pathways into Australia’s cultural sector. We are deeply grateful to Minister Tony Burke, Susan Templeman, and the Australian Government for this renewed support. As Minister Burke expressed: “If we’re serious about ensuring work in the arts is accessible to everyone—not just those who can afford it—then we need to properly fund these institutions.”
Aligned with Revive, the National Cultural Policy, this funding ensures that initiatives like First Nations First remain central to our mission. Arts8 organisations are committed to increasing First Nations representation across art forms, building a more inclusive and vibrant sector. Even as other arts organisations face financial challenges, Arts8 exemplifies the government’s belief in the power of creative industries to shape Australia’s future.
AYO is energised to deliver on our new four-year strategic plan, driven by excellence, inclusion, and youth voice. Our hands-on training—delivered by industry experts in studios, production sets, concert halls, theatres, and on Country—equips students with the tools to thrive. With retention rates exceeding 95% and over 90% of graduates securing employment in cultural sectors, our impact is both measurable and enduring.
“The dream of touring once again to Europe is finally a reality, thanks in no small part to the commitment of the Australian Government through Arts8 to ensure our elite musicians are afforded the pinnacle in performance opportunities. In ‘a tour year’—a modest shorthand for a truly monumental undertaking—we depend on our donors more than ever to ensure that talent remains the only participation criterion.” – Professor Scott Harrison, Chair of AYO.
Over decades, Arts8 institutions have trained some of Australia’s finest talent, including Cate Blanchett, Warwick Thornton, Jane Campion, and members of Bangarra Dance Theatre, the Australian symphony network, and the Australian Ballet. Our alumni have taken the stage at Cirque du Soleil and filled roles in state theatre and ballet companies. The continued success of these companies—and the artists and technicians behind them—relies on the vital work of Arts8. We are the engine room that keeps our sector running, producing the skilled tradespeople behind the curtain and camera whom audiences rarely see.
