Our Mission is to develop and preserve a collection of significant Australian film, recorded sound, broadcast and new and networked media works, and share the collection with audiences across Australia and overseas. Our purposes can be defined as follows:

Purpose 1: Developing the collection

At the core of NFSA activity is developing the national audiovisual collection to the highest curatorial standards.

Purpose 2: Preserving the collection

Preservation ensures permanent access to the national audiovisual collection and accessioning and cataloguing the collection facilitates its discoverability. We store the collection in accordance with recommended international standards (passive preservation), and we actively preserve it through both analogue copying and digitisation.

Purpose 3: Sharing the collection

Access to the collection is characterised by user expectations of being part of a two-way exchange. Audiences embrace the notion of collective ownership of their national estate. Instead of ‘granting access’ we wish to share the collection and engage users in its development.

Purpose 4: Maximising and increasing our resources

To ensure our long-term sustainability, we work within our means to conduct our activities smartly and in innovative ways. We are focused on optimising the potential of our people, entering innovative collaborations and managing our assets prudently.