This year’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition could be cancelled due to a lack of funding.
The art exhibition, due to begin on October 17, needs a further $200,000 within the next two weeks for the event to go ahead.
An estimated 450,000 people visit the exhibit each year along the Bondi to Tamarama cliff walk in Sydney’s east.
The not-for-profit organisation relies on a combination of sponsorships and government funding to run the exhibit and pay its artists.
Founder David Handley, artists Kasane Low and Niharika Hukku, and 2023 Sculpture by the Sea winner John Petrie. (ABC News: Pablo Vinales)
Sculpture by the Sea said it was unable to secure funding from the federal government to support the annual art exhibit.
The organisation has pointed to Creative Australia — the government’s peak arts body — for the funding shortfall.
Sculpture by the Sea founder, David Handley, has turned to the public for financial support to see the exhibition installed by mid-October.
Under staffed and under resourced
Mr Handley said a minimum of $100,000 would be enough for at least part of the exhibit to continue to take place at South Bondi.
“This exhibition cost $3 million to put on and we’ve actually cut out costs by $200,000 from last year. We’re understaffed, under resourced,” Mr Handley said.
“It cost $800,000 just to put the sculptures in. There’s 60 contractors who come here to help put the exhibition together and another 20-plus temporary staff.”
The office of Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke directed questions to Creative Australia which is the government’s arts funding body.
A Creative Australia spokesperson said organisers had not submitted an application for funding, including from its recent arts project investments for organisations program.
“Creative Australia provides a range of avenues for investment, including both multi-year and arts projects investment,” a spokesperson said.
“Funding does not automatically renew at the end of a funding cycle. To be considered for funding, organisations must apply for funding through an open and competitive process.”
Mr Handley said Sculpture by the Sea applied for funding from Creative Australia in 2023.
“We were actually rated in the bottom third of applicants nationally. So, that’s why we went from $1 million of funding in 2023 to nothing in 2024,” he said.
Although smaller grant applications have been open, Mr Handley said smaller sums of money were not sufficient to support the scale of the art exhibit.
Artists unsure if event will go ahead
Artists featured in Sculpture by the Sea spend an average of $15,000 on each artwork, inclusive of materials, transportation and installation costs.
Kasane Low is one of the artists expected to show their work at this year’s exhibition.
She said the uncertainty created by the lack of funding had “added another layer of stress to the show” but that she was continuing to work as if the show would be held.
Low was making 500 porcelain fortune cookies by hand to exhibit at Sculpture by the Sea this year. (Pablo Vinales)
“To hear the news is just absolutely devastating for myself and the other 100 artists that will be in the show, who I know have been working tirelessly as I have since May, to make our works for the exhibition,” Low said.
2023 Sculpture by the Sea winner, John Petrie, has been involved with the show since its first exhibition in 1997.
“It’s an investment on many levels [for artists]; emotional investment, financial investment, stress management, and time. It takes up most of the year,” Petrie said.
“If it doesn’t go ahead, well that’s all for nothing.”
This year is supposed to be Niharika Hukku’s third time showing her work at Sculpture by the Sea.
“Being a part of sculpture by the sea, it really made me flex because it’s very site-specific. The show encourages you to go big and to express yourself,” she said,
Ms Hukku described the show as “diverse” and “culturally rich”.
“It’s an opportunity for everyone to enjoy art at a place like this… and it’s free,” Hukku said.