Cultural vitality and creativity is strengthened by investment in cultural assets and activities. The City Art Public Art Strategy has been developed as a key action of the Sustainable Sydney 2030 Plan (action 7.4.1). This strategy will guide the City’s public art program and significantly contribute to creating the “vibrant cultural and creative city” outlined in the plan. The Public Art Strategy aims to embed public art into the fabric of the city to reflect Sydney’s unique history, its diverse communities, its creativity, its innovation and its energy. Providing opportunities for everyone to participate, including artists with a disability, it aims to create experiences that are universally accessible to all people. The Public Art Strategy recognises the City’s reputation for delivering high quality public domain and architectural projects and intends to compliment the capital works program with high quality public art.

The Public Art Strategy uses the term City Art to define a broad program of public art embracing permanent and temporary installations and artworks and reflect the changing ways artists and artworks engage with the life of the city, its communities and visitors. The Public Art Strategy builds on the legacy of the past, while responding to new ideas about art, storytelling, interpretation and cultural expression. Such important aspects of city life were called for by the community during the City of Sydney’s Local Action Plans consultation and through the Sustainable Sydney 2030 community consultation.

Residents, businesses, artists and the cultural sector called for the City of Sydney to take a major role in providing cultural leadership in Sydney. As a result one of the 10 main strategic directions of Sustainable Sydney 2030 is Strategic Direction 7 - “To develop a cultural and creative city.” The Public Art Strategy provides a program for the development of public art projects and for the broader engagement by Council in committing to partnerships to support a vibrant public art culture as a legacy for the future. The strategy identifies what the City of Sydney can do and includes various roles for its partners to realise Sustainable Sydney 2030.

The Public Art Strategy has been developed alongside citywide urban design strategies including the City Centre Public Domain Plan, the Liveable Green Network, the Laneways Revitalisation Strategy, the Social Policy and Social Infrastructure Plan and the development of the City of Sydney Cultural Plan and the City Plan, a comprehensive city-wide set of planning controls. Through the adoption of the Public Art Strategy, the Council of the City of Sydney commits itself to delivering a dynamic Public Art Program to demonstrate its commitment to the cultural objectives of Sustainable Sydney 2030 and to make Sydney a world-leading cultural city.