Second round of public art consultation underway

Published on 28 September 2022

The City of Launceston is embarking on an exciting journey to develop Launceston's inaugural Public Art Strategy - with the community again called upon to help shape the finished product through a second stage of public consultation.

Whether you’re a spectator, a participant, an administrator or a creator of arts and cultural content in Launceston – or perhaps a mix of all four - the Council wants your input about how it can create meaningful and engaging public art in Launceston for everyone to experience.

City of Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said the Council had already undertaken a significant body of work through the development of the draft Public Art Strategy, which was endorsed for a second round of consultation at last week's ordinary Council meeting.

Interested community members are encouraged to take part in round two of the public engagement, which is now live on the Council's engagement platform, Your Voice Your Launceston.

Late last year, the Council appointed leading art consultant Beth Jackson of Artfully to develop the inaugural strategy.

The strategy was initially guided by an internal working group from the City of Launceston and informed by a consultation process involving a number of one-on-one interviews with key members of the Council's staff and the local community.

Additionally, two focus group sessions were held with the arts community, as well as a council workshop and a public meeting to facilitate a much broader discussion around public art in Launceston.

An initial online survey conducted in April last year also received more than 300 individual responses.

From all of this, the final draft of the strategy was developed and presented to Council last week.

"While the Council has engaged extensively so far in the development of the strategy, there's no doubt that there is a broader community interest in public art and it is considered appropriate that the draft be released once again for feedback prior to the Council endorsing and adopting the finished product," Mayor van Zetten said.

"Given that we are currently locked in an election period, this final engagement process will run over a couple of months, with the final plan to be presented to the new Council later in the year.

"As a Council, we are very excited to evolve our contribution to art in public spaces through the development of the Public Art Strategy for Launceston."

For more information, to comment or to view the draft strategy, go to www.yourvoiceyourlaunceston.com.au/public-art-strategy

Comments can also be emailed directly to community.engagement@launceston.tas.gov.au

Consultation will close on Tuesday, October 18 at 5pm.