Arts in our City

The City acknowledges the importance of art as a means of fostering health, wellbeing, and community connectedness. In addition to the continued development of culturally significant visual art and public art collections, the City facilitates a range of community art opportunities including exhibitions, workshops, events and activities.

Visual Art Collection

The City of Stirling’s Visual Art Collection incorporates over 230 artworks by established and emerging artists that are displayed throughout the City’s civic, administration and community buildings.

With an emphasis on Western Australian contemporary arts practice since the 1970s, the collection features 2D and small-scale 3D works encompassing painting, works on paper, sculpture, textile, ceramics, photography and digital art. Many of the artworks that form the Art Collection today have been acquired from the City’s long-running Art Awards.

Focus areas of the collection include ‘Local Identity’ and ‘City of Stirling Landscapes’. The growing Indigenous art collection also highlights works by renowned local Nyoongar artists, such as Peter Farmer and Shane Pickett (dec.).

Since 2000, the Visual Art Collection Policy has provided a framework for maintenance, development and management of the City’s art collection.

Public Art Collection

The City of Stirling’s Public Art Collection consists of over 50 permanent pieces, including sculptures, integrated artworks, murals, play-friendly artworks and functional artworks. The collection has a strong focus on works by Western Australian artists, with a mix of established and emerging creatives.

The Public Art Collection features artworks that form an integral part of each place and community, enhancing the City’s thriving neighbourhoods and public amenities, providing a vehicle for the expression of local stories and identities, building community connection and contributing to economic development.

City acquisitions and management processes are guided by the Public Art Policy, which includes a requirement for City-led capital works projects over a certain value to allocate a per cent of the project budget to public artwork.

The City also administers the Public Art on Private Land Policy (LPP 6.12), which stipulates a provision of public art within specified developments as a means of complementing the impacts of urban intensification by improving the appearance and amenity of places. This is accompanied by a Developer’s Guide to Public Art to assist developers with the requirements of the policy and ensure appropriate public art considerations are made.

The Public Art Masterplan guides the direction and actions for development of all future public art in the City.

Scarborough Public Art Trail

The City of Stirling’s public art includes exceptional quality, stimulating artworks which form an integral part of each place and community, reflecting their environment and enhancing our City’s thriving neighbourhoods and places. View the City's attractions and public art map.