Public art activities play an important role in distinguishing Wellington as a sophisticated, tolerant, dynamic city with creativity at its heart.

Public art activity involves:

• 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.

Call for proposals

The Public Art Panel reviews proposals for public art activity four times a year in March, June, August and November.

Sign up to our City Arts Pānui to get emails about future calls for proposals.

2025 Call for proposals

The Council’s Public Art Policy outlines eight desired outcomes for public art activity that form the basis for the approval and prioritisation of public art activities in Wellington City. Your proposal should meet one or more of the desired outcomes below:

• 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.

The deadline for proposals is 9am, Monday 14 July 2025. This funding round is for public art projects taking place from early September 2025.

We recommend discussing your project with our Arts Advisor as early as possible. The Arts Advisor will be able to provide useful information about council-owned sites, budget advice, and general recommendations on your concept and proposal. See the Arts Advisor contact details below.

Applications

If you wish to propose a public art activity, please complete the application below and submit it to the Council’s City Arts team. Email pippa.sanderson@wcc.govt.nz

The City Arts team assesses all proposals in collaboration with the Public Art Panel to ensure proposals meet the criteria and reflect the outcomes for public art activity.

The guidelines and public art activity applications apply to proposals for both temporary and permanent projects, and proposed gifts and donations.

• Public art activity proposal application (179KB PDF) | Text version (35KB RTF)
• Public art activity guidelines (297KB PDF) | Text version (7KB RTF)
• Assessment guidelines for public art activity (425KB PDF) | Text version (174KB RTF)
• Public Art Policy

Public art fund

The Council funds the research, development, commissioning and implementation of public art activity in Wellington. You should discuss your proposed project and level of funding with an Arts Advisor before submitting your application.

Previous grants

Find out about past Public Art Fund grant allocations.

Contact us

Pippa Sanderson, Senior Arts Advisor

Mobile: 021 454 039

Email: pippa.sanderson@wcc.govt.nz