The future of Sculpture by the Sea in doubt as exhibition cancelled in 2025

Sculpture by the Sea have today announced that the annual Cottesloe exhibition will not go ahead in 2025.

Organisers say the decision was made due to “a lack of funding support from the federal arts agency Creative Australia.”

The decision comes following the end of the Catalyst Fund and the RISE Fund in 2023, meaning there was no federal government arts funding to stage the large-scale exhibition.

Sculpture by the Sea is one of Perth’s largest and longest-running public events, transforming Cottesloe beach into a temporary world-class sculpture park for 230,000 visitors over 18 days in March each year.

At this stage there is no indication whether the event will return in 2026, with organisers stating that “without secure federal government funding, it is simply not possible to stage an exhibition of this scale as other sources of income vary so much from year to year.”

Sculpture by the Sea 2025 has been cancelled. Follow X-Press on Facebook and sign up to our newsletter for updates on this story as it unfolds.