Deadline: 06-Oct-2025
The Wellington City Council is calling for curators and artists to fund the research, development, commissioning and implementation of Public Art activity in Wellington.
Artists contributing to the thinking and design of public places and spaces, art concepts and/or art works and/or design features integrated into urban design developments (including buildings, streets and parks), artists working in and with communities in public spaces, art processes and artworks in the public sphere that may be variously described as sculpture, murals, street-art, performance, new-genre public art, relational aesthetics, and/or installations. Wellington’s public art activities will be fresh and innovative.
Public art activities in Wellington’s suburban centres enhance sense of place. Māori whakapapa and history are expressed in Wellington’s public art activity. The city’s diverse communities are represented through public art activities. Wellingtonians are more engaged in the development of public art activity. The city’s public infrastructure integrates art concepts and/or design features and/or physical artworks. Initiate and implement programmes to communicate and educate people about Wellington’s public art activity. Public art activities directly contribute to social and economic change and urban/suburban revitalisation in Wellington.
To be eligible, projects must take place within the Wellington ratepaying area, meet the defined criteria, not have started before an application for funding, and undergo assessment. Eligible projects include site-specific arts activities that take place in public spaces such as artists contributing to the thinking and design of public places and spaces, art concepts and/or artworks and/or design features integrated into urban design developments including buildings, streets, and parks, artists working in and with communities in public spaces, and art processes and artworks in the public sphere that may be described as sculpture, murals, street-art, performance, new-genre public art, relational aesthetics, or installations. Conference, symposium, or lecture series and gifts or donations may also qualify.
Proposals for public art activity should be submitted to the Council’s City Arts team, whether support is sought from the Public Art Fund administered and managed by the City Arts team, a Council grant such as Creative Communities or general grants, the Council’s operational or capital expenditure budgets, or support in principle or advocacy for public art activity. The Council’s Public Art Panel will assess all proposals, guided by outcomes and criteria informed by the city’s strategic priorities outlined in Towards 2040: Smart Capital and the Arts and Culture Strategy.
Priority will be given to proposals that demonstrate at least one of the following: new artistic practices that will reinforce Wellington’s reputation as a centre for innovation, activities located in suburban centres that reflect local sense of place through history, culture, and topography, projects that recount Māori whakapapa and history and demonstrate approval and support of mana whenua representative organisations while developing the artistic capacity of mana whenua Ngāti Toa and Taranaki Whānui in a meaningful way, initiatives that celebrate and represent Wellington’s diverse communities and create opportunities for these groups, projects that engage Wellington residents in the development of public art activity, public infrastructure works as part of a redevelopment project, programmes that communicate and educate people about public art activity, and projects that directly contribute to social and economic change and revitalisation in Wellington.
In assessing artistic merit, factors such as high standards of artistic excellence, a work’s response to its proposed site with cultural, historical, and environmental considerations, opportunities for Wellington artists, and accessibility of artworks will be taken into account. All proposals must take place within the Wellington ratepaying area, demonstrate appropriate consideration of public safety and the public’s access to and use of public spaces, and indicate credible maintenance and durability requirements.
Applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposed project and funding requirements with the Senior Arts Advisor before submitting, as this provides guidance on council-owned sites, mana whenua engagement, budget preparation, and overall recommendations. The deadline for submissions is 9am, Monday 6 October 2025, with the funding round supporting projects scheduled to take place from late November 2025.
For more information, visit Wellington City Council.
