The total prize pool for this year’s Wyndham Art Prize will be $24,500, with Wyndham council adding a new $5000 category to the competition.
Now in its seventh year, the annual contemporary art prize attracts entries from across Australia and Wyndham.
In 2021, prize money for the competition will include a $12,000 non-acquisitive prize, a $5000 acquisitive Local Emerging Art Prize and a $2500 People’s Choice Award, sponsored by Arts Assist.
The council has introduced a new $5000 commission prize to this year’s competition, in a category titled TREAT – A Socially Engaged Art Prize.
Using the $5000 commission, the winning artist will work within the Wyndham community and on a Deakin University research initiative, the Public Art Commission.
The artist will develop a project, to be presented in partnership with the Wyndham Art Gallery in September, as a series of place-based public art pieces in the west.
The project will be curated by David Cross and Cameron Bishop of Deakin University.
Wyndham mayor Adele Hegedich said the annual Art Prize strengthened the municipality’s reputation as a place where art is valued and central to residents’ experience.
Creative city portfolio holder, Cr Marcel Mahfoud, has encouraged Wyndham artists to enter the competition.
“Artworks can take any form, including (but not limited to) sculpture, painting, drawing, printmaking, textiles, photography, installation, sound digital, video,” he said.
Entries to the Wyndham Art Prize will close on February 21, with some finalists to be featured in an exhibition at the Wyndham Art Gallery.
Details: www.wyndham.vic.gov.au/wyndhamartprize
