‘Headed for a financial cliff’: Sculpture by the Sea in doubt amid budget shortfall

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Organisers of Australia’s largest annual outdoor sculpture walk have made an urgent public plea for public and corporate donations, warning the event faces cancellation if it is unable to meet a $200,000 budget shortfall.

Sculpture by the Sea’s founder David Handley said he was informed last week the iconic Bondi to Tamarama cliff walk had been unsuccessful in securing two potential avenues of government funding after an eleventh-hour bid for support.

Clayton Blake’s Odyssey from Sculpture by the Sea Bondi, 2024.

“Almost everyone thinks Sculpture by the Sea is well funded from government sources. It is not,” Handley said.

“We had to cancel this year’s Perth exhibition and did not expect that the people we were speaking with in the government for the last six months or more would not be able to secure the funds required, and we only found out late last week. We are hoping the NSW public and corporate donors will get behind us and the artists.”

The shortfall comes a year shy of the exhibition’s 30th anniversary, and in the same week as a key arts tax summit is to be held at the Sydney Opera House to find ways to extend a lifeline to the bleeding arts sector.

The iconic coastal walk draws around 450,000 visitors over 18 days, with some 94 works from artists from 14 countries to be installed for this year’s October 17 opening. Some international works have already arrived in Australia ahead of the show.

“The artists have been doing their last finishing touches while we have been operating on the basis that the show would go ahead, and we would get the money we needed, and then last week the news came through that these two sources were unable to come up with the funds,” Handley told the Herald. “We’ve been telling all the relevant government departments we were headed for a financial cliff and here we are.”

Sculpture by the Sea founder David Handley at Tamarama.

Handley has two weeks to raise $200,000 for the sculptural exhibition to take place. Should $100,000 be raised, a scaled-back exhibition can go ahead on the South Bondi headland, he said. However, it’s too late for Sculpture by the Sea’s long-running school education program, held since 2002. Separate to school excursions, the program was unable to proceed this year.

In the last two years, Handley said Sculpture by the Sea had secured $300,000 from new corporate sponsors and cut costs by a “few hundred thousand dollars” to remain viable. Eight positions were cut after the popular exhibition was cancelled at Cottesloe Beach in 2025, due to a lack of ongoing federal funding.

Independent federal MP, Allegra Spender, has donated and has urged members of the public to get onboard if they can afford the donation: “It’s disappointing that Creative Australia has left Sculpture by the Sea with a shortfall this year, but I know our community will step into the breach. ”

Handley said he was quietly optimistic of reaching its goal of $200,000, but timing was of the essence. “If 100 companies spare $1000 each we are back on. We need the hat to go around, real quick.”

Creative Australia said it had not received any formal funding applications from Sculpture by the Sea since 2023.

“Creative Australia’s investment is delivered through open and competitive programs. Applications are assessed based on independent expert advice and according to published criteria,” a spokesperson said.

“Sculpture by the Sea has not applied to Creative Australia for any recent funding opportunities, including our recent arts project investment for organisations program, which closed on September 2.

“We welcome applications to our investment programs and encourage organisations to draw on the feedback provided on past applications.”

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