The Arts Party is an

Australian political party The politics of Australia has a mild two-party system, with two dominant political groupings in the Australian political system, the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal/National Coalition. Federally, 16 of the 151 members of the lower house ( ...

inspired by the importance of the arts and creative action. The party was voluntarily deregistered with the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

on 25 June 2019, but remains registered for local elections with the

New South Wales Electoral Commission The New South Wales Electoral Commission is a statutory agency with responsibility for the administration, organisation, and supervision of elections in New South Wales. It reports to the NSW Government Department of Premier and Cabinet. ...

History

The Australian party was founded in October 2013 by two

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based artists, PJ Collins and

Nicholas Gledhill Nicholas Martin Gledhill (born 7 March 1975) is an Australian film, stage actor, voice artist, writer and choreographer Biography Gledhill was born in Sydney to parents Bobbie Gledhill and actor Arthur Dignam. He grew up in Glebe, New South Wa ...

, and registered by the

(AEC) in August 2014. Money was raised for the party's registration through a crowd-funding campaign. Two Arts Party members stood as

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidates at the

2015 Queensland state election The 2015 Queensland state election was held on 31 January 2015 to elect all 89 members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The centre-right Liberal National Party (LNP), led by Premier Campbell Newman, attempted to win a s ...

, as the party had not been registered in time to contest the election. Later in the year, the party's leader, PJ Collins, stood as an ungrouped Legislative Council candidate at the

2015 New South Wales state election A general election for the 56th Parliament of New South Wales (NSW) was held on Saturday 28 March 2015. Members were elected to all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly using optional preferential voting. Members were also elected to 21 of th ...

. The first official Arts Party candidate was Lou Pollard in the

2015 North Sydney by-election A by-election for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Division of North Sydney, North Sydney was held on 5 December 2015 from 8 am to 6 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time, AEDT. The trigger for the by-election was ...

, who came eighth in a field of 13 candidates. The Arts Party fielded seven candidates for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

and thirteen

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

candidates across all states in the 2016 federal election. Once again, the entire campaign was financed through a crowd-funding campaign. The

candidates were

Anthony Ackroyd Anthony Michael Ackroyd (born 30 June) is an Australian comedian, writer, musician, actor, speaker, and teacher. He is currently the CEO (Chief Enjoyment Officer) of his company The Laughter Advantage. Biography Ackroyd was born in Hobart, Tasma ...

in the electorate of

Wentworth Wentworth may refer to: People * Wentworth (surname) * Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth (1873–1957), Lady Wentworth, notable Arabian horse breeder * S. Wentworth Horton (1885–1960), New York state senator * Wentworth Miller (born 1 ...

(NSW), Shea Caplice in the electorate of

Warringah Warringah is a name taken from the local Aboriginal word for Middle Harbour, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It may refer to: *Division of Warringah, an electoral division of the Australian House of Representatives created in 1922 *Electoral ...

(NSW), Tim Sanderson in the electorate of

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

(Tasmania), Christopher Gordon in the electorate of

Bennelong Woollarawarre Bennelong ( 1764 – 3 January 1813), also spelt Baneelon, was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. Bennelong serv ...

(NSW), Sally Baillieu in the electorate of Dunkley (Victoria), Stephen Beck in the electorate of

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...

(Queensland) and Andrew Charles Tyrrell in the electorate of

Petrie Petrie is a surname of Scottish origin which may refer to: People * Alexander Petrie (minister), Alexander Petrie (died 1662), Scottish minister * Alistair Petrie (born 1970), English actor * Andrew Petrie (1798–1872), Scottish-born builder, arc ...

(Queensland). In voting for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, the party ranked nationally 28th out of 55 parties, based on first preference votes by group, polling 0.27% of first preferences nationwide. At the

2021 New South Wales local elections The 2021 New South Wales local elections were held on 4 December 2021 to elect the councils of 121 of the 128 local government areas (LGAs) in New South Wales. Several councils also held mayoral elections and/or referendums. Previous referen ...

, the party received 536 votes.

References

External links

Australia

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{{Defunct Australian political parties The arts and politics Political parties established in 2014 Political parties in Australia 2014 establishments in Australia