Public Art Policies and Strategies

Dublin City Council has adopted three policy documents relating to the management of public art in Dublin.

Policies and Strategies for Managing Public Art sets out approaches to the management and commissioning of public art, and procedures for submitting proposals for permanent art.

The Policy for Decommissioning of Public Art sets out procedures for temporary removal, relocation or permanent decommissioning of public art in the care or ownership of Dublin City Council.

The Commemorative Naming of Infrastructure and the Provision of Monuments, Memorials and Plaques policy establishes the process by which Dublin City Council will consider the commemoration of events or individuals deemed to have shaped the city.

Equitable Payment of Artists Policy 

Dublin City Council Arts Office is responsible only for the payment of work it has specifically assigned and agreed in advance with the artist.

Payment: €50 per contact hour/€20 per preparation hour (number of hours to be agreed with Arts Office in advance of programme). This rate applies to ‘one-off’ workshops. An extended workshop programme rate will need to be negotiated on a project by project basis.

Assistant Artist: Applicants may indicate on the application form if they wish to be considered for artists’ assistant work from time to time. Assistant Artist rate is €20 per hour.

At the Arts, Culture, Leisure and Community SPC meeting of 27th November, 2013, the following motion was proposed by Noel Kelly, Director of Visual Artists Ireland and agreed by the Strategic Policy Committee:

"The motion presented here is to ask Dublin City Council to put in place a policy that artists, in all art forms undertaking work commissioned or otherwise undertaken on behalf of Dublin City Council are paid in an equitable manner, and that a further policy is put in place requiring any organisation or group applying for funding from Dublin City Council to clearly show that artists employed as part of the applicants projects are paid in an equitable manner as a condition of the funding provision."

This motion is now part of Dublin City Council Policy in relation to the payment of artists. To ensure the above motion can pass into practice, a supplementary protocol was requested.

Implementation of the Policy

The Arts Office proposes that, for practical reasons, projects to which the policy now applies be divided between those produced by Dublin City Council, at The Lab, The Hugh Lane, and Libraries, for example; and those funded by Dublin City Council within Arts Grants, Event Funding, and Literary Programmes.

The Arts Office proposes to issue guidelines to grant recipients, while providing support by request. The Arts Office will also report on compliance within a sample of applications each year to fulfil its obligations to oversight.

Draft Arts, Education and Learning Policy Statement

The Arts Office is currently developing an Arts, Education and Learning Policy Statement. Consultation is currently underway with stakeholders.