Over the past decade, there has been a significant uplift in public art opportunities activated by the implementation of public art policies across the country. As urban spaces evolve, councils are embracing the opportunity to strengthen community identity and create civic legacies through the integration of artwork in the built environment. Increasingly, we are seeing public art investments being funnelled into opportunities for First Nations storytelling, to weave cultural significance into the fabric of our buildings and cities.
The rise of public art generally, and First Nations-led artworks resulting from the NSW Connecting to Country Framework is a positive step forward for our cities, but arguably, there is a shortage of artists and experience to deliver these works. Adding to the complexity, public art commissions are often not tailored to delivering artwork alone and they require the contracted artist to administer complex contracts whilst delivering artwork elements to commercial sites, under commercial building terms. Through managing the technical project requirements, hours of stakeholder management, and project documentation, the artists can often become overwhelmed by the requirements of the construction environment. Navigating the artistic opportunity and commercial obligations requires a collaborative approach to project delivery, to support the artist and draw on the expertise of a public art project team. When Tilt began, it was founded on the purpose of ...