We actively maintain our art and heritage collection, which includes public art, memorials and some limited murals around our region. There are over 880 items in the collection requiring programmed and reactive maintenance annually.

Council's Public Art Policy 2015-20 [ PDF, 8.18 MB] outlines that ephemeral works commissioned or facilitated by us, such as murals and street art, will have a lifespan limit of five years excluding exceptional circumstances. In many cases, murals and street art may have an even shorter lifespan.

Street art pieces and murals in the public realm are usually considered to have a short lifespan given the medium/materials used, their exposure to external conditions such as weather and importantly the long tradition of graffiti culture, however the intention of the artist(s) or commissioner and the circumstances of the creation of the artwork are always key factors as well.

There have been special instances in the past when we have advocated for a significant mural or artwork in the public realm to be acknowledged and protected through the Victorian Heritage Register, sometimes successfully and other times not. Our advocacy for murals is determined on a case by case basis, but usually the work would need to demonstrate considerable artistic and cultural significance on a local, state and/or national level.

One case study is Keith Haring’s mural at the former Collingwood Technical School on Johnston Street. In 2004, we successfully applied to have Haring’s mural heritage listed and the State Government, as the asset owner, undertook major conservation, cleaning and protective works in 2011 led by Creative Victoria.

For funding, artists or property owners may consider an application to our Small Project Grants or the Community Grants program for larger projects.

We offer small project grants year round limited to $2,000 per application (until the budget is expended). There is a specific Arts & Cultural stream which professional artists, organisations and community groups can apply to in order to fund projects and events taking place in the City of Yarra.

Applications will be assessed on their artistic merit, how they meet the objectives of Council, the capacity of the applicant and a realistic budget. Should the application be successful, the Arts and Cultural services team may provide in kind support via navigating compliance.

Murals are eligible, but we will want to see appropriate consultation with the property owner (if an artist is applying for a grant) and evidence that the applicant has sought advice from Council about any Planning Permit requirements.

For more information, please visit our grants page to read the guidelines and access the online application system Smarty Grants.

City of Yarra is a very popular and supportive place for street art. Fitzroy and Collingwood are particularly well known as major street art suburbs in Melbourne and people are drawn here to both see and produce street art.

In comparison to surrounding inner city municipalities, we have the highest percentage of residents who work in the creative sector. There over 60 galleries operating in Yarra, including commercial, public and artist run galleries. You can view our online gallery guide to search for galleries and find artists.

Council's Public Art Officer can assist to put you in contact with specific artists if you have seen a style of artwork that you like, or if you have particular themes that you want to see translated onto your wall or building. 

There are also a number of street art studios and collectives based in the City of Yarra. They can be found online through searching for street art studios in Fitzroy and/or Collingwood. Another useful resource is Land of Sunshine which documents street art and graffiti in Melbourne suburbs and beyond.

Additionally art guide publications such as Art Almanac and Art Guide Australia can be a worthwhile reference to find artists or designers.

Industry bodies and associations are also a useful resource, including the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), the national peak body for the visual and media arts, craft and design sector or the State Government’s key creative body Creative Victoria.

Painting a mural on a building or a wall can be significantly more expensive than people anticipated. The following information aims to outline the process step by step and indicate some of the likely costs. The requirements and associated costs are always site specific, and can change considerably depending on the location and the nearby public assets and infrastructure.

1. Written permission is required from the owner of the building before you can proceed (if you are not the building owner yourself) Consent via email is acceptable.
2. Check in with Council's planning department to determine if the building has a heritage overlay or any paint controls. Our Statutory Planning Team will be able to determine if a planning permit is required to paint on an eternal surface (wall, fence, laneway or façade

Our Incorporated Plan states a permit is required if the surface painting:

‘…forms part of an advertisement, artwork or mural.’

It should be noted that there are heritage overlays in effect across the City of Yarra and administered by us. This ensures that controls are in place to protect the heritage, amenity and suburban character across the municipality. There may be paint controls over individual properties and therefore, murals will not always be appropriate. In some cases exposed brick walls are heritage controlled and cannot be painted over in any circumstance.

You can apply for a permit here.

General advice from the Statutory Planning unit is a free service, however formal advice in writing from a statutory planner via a property enquiry will incur a cost. The Statutory Planning unit can be contacted on 9205 5555

Artists or property owners may be required to apply for a road/footpath occupation permit for any installation, equipment or works which obstruct, block or affect pedestrian or vehicle traffic. Further information about the permit process, including considerations such as traffic management plans and associated fees charged, can be found on our permits and consent page.

3. Applying for a footpath/road occupation permit to work in a public space, will be required if the artist will be working in a public space, with or without a ladder, scissor-lift, cherry-picker or scaffold, in any location that a member of the public is permitted to be in or move through, it may be a green space, car-park, road, footpath, park, nature-strip etc

To apply for the permit, you/the artist will require the following three things:

• A dimensioned site plan;
• Public liability insurance; and
• A Traffic Management Plan drawn up by a qualified traffic engineer. (A Traffic Management Plan (TMP) usually costs between $200—$400 depending on the complexity of the site and the company providing the service.)

4. When you commence work onsite, a qualified traffic manager will be required to set up the traffic management on site in line with the TMP (drawn up for that specific location). If road closures are required or significant traffic management needs to be put in place, this will escalate the costs very quickly.
5. If the artist will be working in close proximity to a Yarra Tram track you will also need to seek approval through Yarra Trams. Please see Yarra Trams for further details.
6. If there are powerlines within 3—6.4m of the wall where you will be working you will also need to pay for an electrical spotter to be onsite at all times when you are working. (An electrical spotter costs approximately $100 per hour). I recommend that you book an inspection with Citipower/Powercor well in advance if there are electrical lines in the vicinity where you would like to install the mural. Please read through the releveant information.
7. After the mural is painted you may want to pay to have an anti-graffiti coating applied to protect the artwork. The coating also it makes it easier to clean off any graffiti that appears.

Ongoing maintenance after the artwork is installed will also be required. We estimate the lifespan of a mural to be approximately five years, but It can be much longer. During this time the artwork will likely need to have graffiti removed several times and the anti-graffiti coating may need to be re-applied at some point; as a number of cleans will start to work through the coating.

Council has limited buildings and infrastructure, therefore only occasionally opportunities will arise to commission a mural. This could include a community facility upgrade, open space/urban design project or an anti-graffiti treatment. Appropriate opportunities will be advertised by Council.

To find out about Yarra City Arts opportunities subscribe to our monthly Yarra City Arts e-newletter and visit our opportunities page, you might also wish to connect with us through social media.

Artists may seek the consent of private property owners in the City of Yarra if they identify a wall that they deem suitable for a mural. Reasonable sites could include a graffiti hot spot or an underutilized or unkempt wall. Artists may offer their services for a fee, voluntarily or advise that the mural is dependent on securing appropriate funding. If an artist intends to approach a private property owner about a mural, they should consider providing them with a formal proposal or letter and enclosing a portfolio. The decision then sits with the property owner to make contact if they are interested.

Council cannot provide contact information due to privacy reasons, but should the project be sufficiently appropriate and meet Council's commission/acquisition criteria as outlined in the Public Art Policy 2015 to 2020 [ PDF, 8.18 MB] , then Arts and Cultural Services may write a letter on an artist’s behalf to the property owner.

Planning requirements:

The artist or the property owner should seek advice about whether a planning permit is required prior to any work starting. General advice from the Statutory Planning unit is a free service, however formal advice in writing from a planner via a property enquiry will be at a cost.

Council’s Incorporated Plan states a permit is required if the surface painting:

‘…forms part of an advertisement, artwork or mural.’

Installation requirements:

Artists or property owners may be required to apply for a road or footpath occupation permit from us for any installation, equipment or works which obstruct, block or affect pedestrian or vehicle traffic. For further information about the permit process, including considerations such as traffic management plans and associated fees charged please call 9205 5555. 

Artists are also welcome to send portfolios to Arts and Cultural Services at info@yarracity.vic.gov.au

For opportunities such as call outs or to advertise your work or availability, visit key sector resource websites such as Artshub or NAVA.

Council has a limited number of buildings and assets that we actually own within Yarra. Occasionally there are opportunities for a commissioned mural to be installed on one of our properties.

The Public Art Policy 2015-20 prioritises a curated process, where Arts and Cultural Services will produce a project brief based on the site and select 3-4 artists in conjunction with the Visual Arts Panel and relevant stakeholders to develop a concept design. One artist may then be selected to move to commissioning stage. Artists are selected based on their experience, practice and appropriateness for the identified outcomes.

Other teams at Yarra may also facilitate mural opportunities and these can include anti-graffiti treatment projects, youth art projects or open space upgrade works. Arts and Cultural services occasionally have active curatorial involvement in these projects, in the instance when it is a high-profile and significant site.

When there are suitable opportunities for smaller scale commissions, an expression of interest (EOI) process may be undertaken. This will usually be promoted on our website, through our monthly e-News and via our media channels.