We are very disappointed to announce that Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe is unable to proceed in March 2025 due to a lack of funds. The main source of funding the exhibition is missing is Federal government arts funding that is currently only available through Creative Australia, which declined to fund our last grant application, ranking it in the bottom 30% of applications nationally. Without core public sector arts and tourism funding it is simply not possible to stage an exhibition on the scale of Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe.
Thank you to the people of Perth, WA and the 596 artists from 44 countries around the world who have made the last 20 years of Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe so enjoyable and one of the largest free to the public events in the world. We would also like to thank all of our volunteers, staff, donors, sponsors, the Town of Cottesloe, Lotterywest, Tourism WA and the WA government for their support in so many different but important ways.
For further information please see the media announcement made today and the letter by many WA artists to the Federal Minister for the Arts The Hon. Tony Burke asking for him to directly fund the exhibition in 2026 in the absence of funding from Creative Australia.