A council policy to reserve 1 per cent of capital works for public art was ditched at the June meeting after a long campaign by Cr Paul Funnell. The funding for art was capped at $50,000 a year, with the excess earmarked for community works. 

Cr Keenan hosed down rumours of a rescission motion, saying councillors had made their wishes clear, but suggested she would try to lift the funding limit.

“It’s clear councillors want to see a community works reserve, I accept that, but I think we can have both,” Cr Keenan said. “I’m not going to move a rescission motion… (but) it would be disappointing if the cap remains.”

As a result of councillors’ decision to slash arts funding, staff developed a pared-back plan to ration out the remaining funds, which was set to go on public exhibition if approved at Monday night’s meeting.

Cr Keenan encouraged supporters of public art to have their say on the drastically-reduced policy.

“It’s a topic that gets a lot of people talking and we saw a lot of feedback previously, but we need people to come back and give their views on the capped funding model,” she said.

“The debate made people aware of the types of art that would potentially not happen, not just sculptures in roundabouts but performances and workshops with kids.”

Riverina artist Vic McEwan lamented the lack of support for art, saying it was a symptom of narrow-mindedness.

“Often you find people who don’t want to invest in public art in their home town but they look at it when they go on holidays,” Mr McEwan said.

“The problem is as a community we need to understand people have different needs for different things. If the city wants to invest in sports infrastructure the artists don’t protest... I don’t play sport but I understand the need to invest in it.”