Bringing community ideas to life in public art

15 December 2016

Call for artists to submit Expressions of Interest

Council is calling for Expressions of Interest from artists to bring community ideas to life in the form of gateway public artworks for Murwillumbah and Kingscliff.

Through a series of public engagement events this year, and the ‘Love Letters to your Town’ initiative, community members put forward hundreds of ideas for themes they wanted to see represented in art.

Now it’s the turn of the creatives. Expressions of Interest open today (15 December 2016). Iinterested artists are asked to submit designs that respond to themes in an artistic brief, developed from the community consultation.

The project is open to artists, arts collectives or public art design teams throughout Australia.

The proposed sites for the installation of public art are the Tweed Valley Way and Alma Street roundabout at Murwillumbah and Kingscliff’s freeway underpass on Wommin Bay Road.

“These are really important projects as the artworks are key gateways to our towns and will play a role in encouraging tourism and economic development ,” Council’s General Manager, Troy Green said.

“The strong responses to these projects show the community really values these artworks and cares about the stories they represent.

“The key themes from the community that came through for Kingscliff focused on representing coastal life and heritage while Murwillumbah’s ideas were about a vibrant art town and creative people.

“There were also strong environmental and indigenous heritage themes put forward for both locations.”

The Expression of Interest documentation and budgets for each of the two Public Art Projects is available from Council's eTender website at www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/tenders/current after completion of a short registration process. Submissions close at 4pm (NSW) 25 January 2017.

For more information please visit yoursaytweed.com.au/town-centre-public-artworks

Submissions will be assessed by Council’s Public Art Reference Group, in accordance with Council's Placemaking and Public Art Policy; shortlisted proposals will be put to a public vote before being endorsed by Council.