Arts in our City

The City acknowledges the importance of art as a means of fostering health, wellbeing, and community connectedness. In addition to the continued development of culturally significant visual art and public art collections, the City facilitates a range of community art opportunities including exhibitions, workshops, events and activities.

Image of woman painting in Mount Flora Regional Museum

Artist in Residence 2026 – Call for expressions of interest

The City of Stirling has delivered an artist in residence program biennially since 2021, supporting fifteen (15) artists to date. Now in its fourth iteration, the AIR program gives artists a space to explore their practice while activating community spaces and inspiring our residents.

The City of Stirling invites proposals from creative practitioners seeking to deepen and extend their practice through an immersive, site-responsive residency. Artists are encouraged to respond to a nominated studio location - engaging with the place, its history, geography, character and community.

  • Includes residency stipend and materials allowance 
  • Open to artists across disciplines
  • 20 July – 27 September 2026 (9-week residency term).

Apply by 5.00pm, Monday 18 May 2026

Learn more about our 2026 Artist in Residence

Image: 2024 AIR participant Annette Peterson at Mt Flora

Photo credit: SoCo Studios

Angela McHarrie, Intersect 12, 2022, Aluminium, acrylic paint, 350mm x 240mm x 350mm

The City's art and history collections have a new home

Over the past year a new and upgraded online database that houses both the Art and Local History Collections has been developed. This new collection management system and website will allow anyone to access elements of these Collections at the click of a button.

The City of Stirling’s Visual Art Collection incorporates 260 artworks that span the mediums of painting, works on paper, sculpture, textile, ceramics, photography and digital art, with an emphasis on contemporary Western Australian artists and arts practice, and includes work by First Nations artists. The collection is displayed and rotated throughout the City’s civic, administration and community buildings.

The Public Art Collection consists of over 82 permanent sculptures, integrated artworks, murals, play-friendly pieces and functional artworks that contribute to the City’s public spaces by expressing local stories, enhancing neighbourhoods, public amenities and community connections to place.

Image Credit: Angela McHarrie, Intersect 12, 2022, Aluminium, acrylic paint, 350mm x 240mm x 350mm.

Discover these diverse collections

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Art Awards and Exhibition

Art Awards and Exhibition 2025

Visit the Art Awards webpage to discover the award winners and more. This biennial event will return in 2027. 

The Art Awards and Exhibition 2025 were supported by Art Display Hire, Oxlades Art Supplies, Rotary Club of Karrinyup and Westfield Innaloo.

Find out more

Image (left to right, back to front): Shelley Cowper, Nazila Jahangir, Soosie Jobson, Brett Leigh Dicks, Vanessa Wallace, Natalie Eastwell, Lisa Findling, Deborah Worthy-Jones, Ric Burkitt. Image captured by Ezra Elcantra Photography.

Visual Art Collection

The City of Stirling’s Visual Art Collection incorporates over 260 artworks by established and emerging artists that are displayed throughout the City’s civic, administration and community buildings.

With an emphasis on Western Australian contemporary arts practice since the 1970s, the collection features 2D and small-scale 3D works encompassing painting, works on paper, sculpture, textile, ceramics, photography and digital art. Many of the artworks that form the Art Collection today have been acquired from the City’s long-running Art Awards.

Focus areas of the collection include ‘Local Identity’ and ‘City of Stirling Landscapes’. The growing Indigenous art collection also highlights works by renowned local Nyoongar artists, such as Peter Farmer and Shane Pickett (dec.).

Since 2000, the Visual Art Collection Policy has provided a framework for maintenance, development and management of the City’s art collection.

Made in Stirling

Made in Stirling video series

'Made in Stirling' is a series of short interviews with the many creatives living and working within our City. From musicians to sculptors, to eco artists and DJ’s we are shining a spotlight on these amazing individuals and their creative practices. Be fascinated and inspired as you get to go behind the scenes and into their studios or settle in on the couch to enjoy a chat from their lounge rooms!

Image: Robyn Jean, local artist and one of our 2024 Artists in Residence. Photo credit: Soco Studios.

View the full playlist on YouTube

Public Art Collection

The City of Stirling’s Public Art Collection consists of over 82 permanent pieces, including sculptures, integrated artworks, murals, play-friendly artworks and functional artworks. The collection has a strong focus on works by Western Australian artists, with a mix of established and emerging creatives.

The Public Art Collection features artworks that form an integral part of each place and community, enhancing the City’s thriving neighbourhoods and public amenities, providing a vehicle for the expression of local stories and identities, building community connection and contributing to economic development.

City acquisitions and management processes are guided by the Public Art Policy, which includes a requirement for City-led capital works projects over a certain value to allocate a per cent of the project budget to public artwork.

The City also administers the Public Art on Private Land Policy (LPP 6.12), which stipulates a provision of public art within specified developments as a means of complementing the impacts of urban intensification by improving the appearance and amenity of places. This is accompanied by a Developer’s Guide to Public Art to assist developers with the requirements of the policy and ensure appropriate public art considerations are made.

The Public Art Masterplan guides the direction and actions for development of all future public art in the City.

Scarborough Public Art Trail

The City of Stirling’s public art includes exceptional quality, stimulating artworks which form an integral part of each place and community, reflecting their environment and enhancing our City’s thriving neighbourhoods and places. View the City's attractions and public art map

Mural colouring sheets

Colour-in a City of Stirling Mural

Get creative and add your own flair to one of the City’s iconic murals with these fun colouring‑in sheets, perfect for the school holidays and beyond. 

Featuring designs inspired by murals from across the City, the collection is constantly growing, with new mural artworks added regularly so there’s always something fresh to colour in.

Download the sheets