Northern Beaches Council will overhaul the Northern Beaches Art Prize to create an exciting new event which celebrates the unique and special character of our area and our community’s passion for our beach and bushland environments.

The new Environmental Art and Design Prize will take place over two weeks in August alongside a new open studios event held across the Northern Beaches.

Mayor Regan said the new format will have a significant benefit for artists and creative businesses, will encourage more community creative involvement and lead to greater community connectivity and wellbeing.

“Different areas and their prizes are known for different art themes and specialties; the Archibald is for portraiture while the Wynne Prize is about landscapes. On the Northern Beaches we love our natural environment and sustainable living so it makes sense for us to be leading in environmentally focussed art and design.

“The history of art on the Northern Beaches has shown that the natural environment has been inspiring the creative community since the late 1800s.

“The new prize will be timed with an open studios style event to provide our existing creative sector clusters and informal arts precincts with even more support."

All local artists will be encouraged to submit, as the new broad categories encompass the categories in previous years of the Prize. With a bigger prize pool and three venues participating, there will be more opportunities for artists to show work and reach new audiences.

The new prize pool will be $42,000 and the exhibition will be spread across three locations to also increase its reach for local audiences - Manly Art Gallery & Museum (MAG&M), Creative Space, Curl Curl and the Mona Vale Civic Centre.

The Northern Beaches Art Prize has been hosted by Council since 2017, and was formerly the Warringah Art Prize, presented annually from 1955 by the former Warringah Council.

Media Enquiries: media@northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au 8495 6943