Sculpture by the Sea rejects move to Scarborough as beach is ‘too flat’

A bid to save Sculpture by the Sea by moving it to Scarborough has been rejected by organisers who claimed the proposal was unworkable because the beach was too flat. As the fallout from the cancellation of next year’s event escalated on Tuesday, the focus shifted to options provided to those running the seaside showpiece after the withdrawal of financial support from the Federal Government and other key sponsors. Founding director David Handley claimed Sculpture by the Sea was cancelled after failing to secure a four-year funding deal through the Federal Government’s arts body Creative Australia But Premier Roger Cook said the State Government had worked to identify other opportunities for the group to run the event, including other sponsors and locations. “We discussed with them corporate support, and I was actually instrumental in getting further corporate support for Sculpture by the Sea,” Mr Cook said. “We also suggested to them that they could consider staging it in another location where they would be able to attract more funding again, particularly from the local government authority. “Now, Sculpture by the Sea has made a decision, (and) they blame that on the Federal Government. I don’t have line of sight as to who’s to blame in relation to this, but we’ll continue to work with Sculpture by the Sea because it’s an event that everyone loves.” City of Stirling mayor Mark Irwin confirmed he had been in talks with the State Government to bring the event north to Scarborough. “The City of Stirling has always maintained that it’s got a world-class tourist destination in Scarborough, and we will invest money to ensure its future success,” he said. “We’ve always maintained that we would love to have those discussion about hosting Sculpture by the Sea in Scarborough. “At different times, we’ve had informal discussions with the State Government where they’ve asked if we would be interested in progressing to see if we could take it on.” On Tuesday, Mr Handley rejected the idea of moving to Scarborough, claiming sculptures would be “swallowed” by the flat beaches. “We have been approached by various people three times over, probably the last 15 years, to move to Scarborough Beach,” he said. “Scarborough Beach is a very different geographic layout to Cottesloe . . . (its) long, flat sandy beaches do not suit Sculpture by the Sea, because the space of an open, long, flat sandy beach swallows sculptures.” Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said she was disappointed some corporate sponsorship has dropped away as well. This masthead understands corporate sponsorship from Hancock Prospecting and Minderoo had expired. Mr Handley said the organisation had written to “all the major corporates” in Perth for more funding, but had failed to find enough for 2025. “We’ve written to pretty much all the major corporates and all the major philanthropic organisations, and this is the outcome,” he said. “For us, we were still getting corporate money and philanthropic money. Where there’s a zero is Federal Government arts money.” The Federal Liberals seized on the funding shortfall on Tuesday, vowing to restore payments of $750,000 for 2026 and 2027 if elected next year. The event, held in the electorate of Curtin — where the Liberals have tapped Tom White to take on Teal independent Kate Chaney — was “much loved” according to senior WA Liberal Michaelia Cash. “The Albanese Government pretends it cares about Western Australia but it has no concept of what is important to the people of our great State,’’ Senator Cash said. “Peter Dutton and the Coalition get the fact this is a much-loved event and deserves to opportunity to continue into the future.” The West Australian contacted Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke’s office on Monday, but was referred to the Department. In Perth on Tuesday, Cabinet Minister Catherine King told the media arts funding through Creative Australia was decided at arm’s length from politicians, which was “as it should be”.