Showcase your artwork as part of Art & About Sydney 2026

Indoor works will be presented for 3 days at East Sydney Community and Arts Centre and Darlinghurst Community Space.

The artist will be engaged to plan, manage and complete the project, which will be commissioned and produced by the City of Sydney for Art & About 2026.

The artist must:

• provide the overall creative concept
• develop, plan, design and complete the work
• engage, coordinate and manage all artists, manufacturers and third-party suppliers in producing the work
• manage the installation, deinstallation, staffing and staging elements (for example, costuming) required to support producing the work
• prepare project documentation including run sheets, production schedules, event plans, maintenance plans and any other documentation requested by the City of Sydney
• prepare and manage project risk assessment.

Any additional equipment required to complete the work that is not outlined in the venue technical specifications will be the responsibility of the artist. These costs must be accounted for in the budget and total fee. Refer to Attachment A for more information.

Selected works will be presented for 3 days in an outdoor public location. This means they need to be accessible, withstand outdoor elements and appropriate engineering certifications must be provided. This is to ensure any structural, mechanical and electrical elements of the work (where applicable) comply with relevant legal and safety standards.

Potential sites for large outdoor works include Taylor Square north, Taylor Square south and Oxford Square. Installation and deinstallation may take place before and after the presentation dates.

The artist will be engaged to plan, manage and complete the project, which will be commissioned and produced by the City of Sydney for Art & About 2026.

You must:

• provide the overall creative concept
• develop, plan, design and complete the work
• engage, coordinate and manage all artists, manufacturers and third-party suppliers in producing the work
• manage the installation, deinstallation, staffing and staging elements (for example, costuming) required to support producing the work
• prepare project documentation including run sheets, production schedules, event plans, maintenance plans and any other documentation requested by the City of Sydney
• supply detailed design drawings and engineering certificates (for all free-standing installations)
• prepare and manage project risk assessment, and complete other obligations and services as explicitly agreed between the artist and the City of Sydney.

For works proposed for Taylor Square north only:

• the artist is responsible for obtaining coordination and consent from market operators (markets operate on Fridays and Saturdays)
• prepare a development application and obtain development consent due to the heritage-listed substation onsite.

To support a diverse range of projects, we can provide key resources and support such as:

Indoor projects

• Front of house staff and security.
• Reasonable access to the site for the completion of the work/s for the exhibition period.
• Any marketing and communications (as determined by the City of Sydney) including signage and street banners.
• For works presented in East Sydney Community and Arts Centre we’ll also provide a duty technician, and any equipment listed in the technical specifications for the venue (refer to attachment A for more information).

Outdoor projects

• Facilitate and host project meetings (where required).
• Access to a City of Sydney studio or creative space (subject to availability).
• If within the City of Sydney’s control, provide access to the site for the completion of the work/s for the exhibition period.
• Marketing and communications (as determined by the City of Sydney) including signage and street banners.

Please outline any further requests for City of Sydney contributions in your indicative budget and clearly detail them in the online expression of interest form.

We’ll evaluate any requests for further support as part of the overall expression of interest submission and with due consideration to the total fee submitted, our overarching curatorial objective and availability of resources.

For more information on suitable artforms, City of Sydney contribution and more information for both indoor and outdoor locations see attachment A.

The City of Sydney has a fixed budget for the total completion of all projects that will feature in this program. In the interests of the community and with a high regard to public funds, we strongly encourage artists to submit their best price and demonstrate value for money for the City of Sydney.

Artists must submit a top line indicative budget that includes artist fees, design, manufacture, materials, engineering, labour, hire equipment, installation, maintenance, staffing and deinstallation costs (if required).

Works that require third party funding or sponsorship may be considered if clearly detailed in the artist’s expression of interest submission, budget and total fee. Artists will also be responsible for negotiating and managing their own funding agreements.

We invite artists to submit their work using the returnable form.

All submissions must be made by 5pm on Wednesday 12 November 2025.

Submission received after this time will not be accepted.

The following information is required in the returnable form:

1. Artist/team’s contact details including bios and/or resumes.
2. Confirmation of which category the artist is applying for (part 1 or part 2) as outlined in attachment A.
   
   Note: if you’re applying for more than one part, you will need to prepare a separate submission for each work.
3. Name and description of the work/s.
4. Demonstration of alignment with the Oxford Street precinct.
5. Artist impression/concept drawings/production images for the work/s.
6. Technical specifications of the work/s, for example power, light, sound and size requirements.
7. Total fee, including a top-line itemised budget.

Submissions that are deemed to be incomplete, not feasible, high risk, insufficiently detailed or undefined, do not comply with the submission requirements or terms and conditions, or do not meet the brief will not progress further in evaluation.

Conforming submissions will be assessed by a panel of City of Sydney representatives against the evaluation criteria.

Works will be evaluated against the following criteria:

• Proposed creative concept: including reference images, presentation of theme and story, calibre and experience of collaborating artists, audience experience and cohesiveness of the curatorial vision for the event overall.
• Alignment with community, culture, history and/or character of the Oxford Street precinct.
• Detailed budget that represents the vision of the creative concept submitted and ability to produce and complete the services within the quoted price.
• Experience and capacity of the project team.
• Demonstrates no adverse environmental impact.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and diversity engagement.
• Demonstrates compliance with work health and safety.
• Financial and commercial trading integrity including insurances.
• Material acceptance of the City of Sydney’s standard form contract.

If you’re selected, you’ll be engaged as an independent contractor. The indicative terms and conditions of the engagement are set out in our Art & About commissioning agreement.

If you’re a sole trader and superannuation contributions are payable by the City of Sydney under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, we’ll pay the superannuation contribution for the benefit of the artist in addition to the contracted fee.