Government Arts Funding FAQs

What Government funding does Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi receive?

Zero from Creative Australia. Creative Australia is the Federal Government’s only Arts funding body.

Create NSW, which is the NSW Government’s Arts Body has provided $400,000 of funding for this year’s Bondi 2025 exhibition. Thank you.

Did Sculpture by the Sea apply to Creative Australia for funding?

Yes.

Sculpture by the Sea applied in 2023 for the only substantial funding on offer until 2029. If we had been successful, that funding would have been provided to us for this year’s Bondi 2025 exhibition.

Creative Australia regarded our 2023 application in the bottom 30% of applicants nationally despite 700,000 visitors to our annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions in Sydney and Perth, which are the largest and best attended annual sculpture exhibitions in the world.

Did Sculpture by the Sea apply for any other funding from Creative Australia?

No.

The few other grants available are for very small amounts that would be shared between Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney and Perth contributing a maximum of only $50,000 to each exhibition.

Has Sculpture by the Sea ever been successful with an application to the Visual Arts section of Creative Australia, or its predecessor, the Australia Council for the Arts?

No.

It took Sculpture by the Sea seven years before the Australia Council would agree to take a meeting with us.

What support do the artist’s receive for exhibiting in Sculpture by the Sea?

Each year for two decades Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney and Perth has provided $2 million to $3 million dollars of income to the exhibiting artists in the form of artist subsidies, awards and sculpture sales.

Currently, the artist subsidies and awards are provided by the exhibition’s sponsors, donors, and Create NSW which is the NSW Government’s arts funding body. We thank each of them for this important contribution to the exhibiting artists.

Does Sculpture by the Sea charge the artist’s to be in the exhibition?

No, however there is a $50 application fee when artists apply through an open call for artist submissions to exhibit.

What financial support does each artist that exhibits in Sculpture by the Sea receive?

For this year’s Bondi exhibition each artist receives a guaranteed minimum income of $3,000 if they do not otherwise earn more than $3,500 from awards, subsidies and sculpture sales.

In addition, each artist receives up to $1,250 towards the cost of the machinery and crew to install their sculptures. This covers the full installation and de-installation costs for most of the artists in the exhibition.

Would the artist’s receive more financial support if there was more government funding for the exhibition?

Yes.

When our organisation received $1 million a year from the RISE fund in 2022 and 2023, shared between the Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions in Sydney and Perth, the artists received the following additional funding:

1. Each Australian artist in the Sydney or Perth exhibitions received guaranteed income of $4,500. This was an increase from zero to $4,500 for the artists in the Perth exhibition and an increase from $3,000 to $4,500 for artists in the Sydney exhibition. The total combined additional financial support for the artists over these two years was $500,000 ie 25% of the total Federal Government funds received.
2. In addition, each artist from Australia or overseas in the exhibitions received up to $3,000 towards their machinery and crew costs to install and de-install their sculptures. This amount covered the machinery and crew costs for all but very few artists in each exhibition.

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