Public Art Commissions on Praed Street

Public Art Commissions on Praed Street

WCC Place Shaping and Culture have appointed public art agency Lacuna to support the Council to deliver a series of public art commissions across Praed Street over the next two years.

The commissions will seek to bring visibility to local stories and communities, past and present, and /or look to address functional needs on the high street.

We are currently exploring location opportunities and setting up the project. If you have a location you would like to discuss with us please email Highstreets@westminster.gov.uk

Commission 1: 2D mural at 7-9 Praed Street

Call for Artist

Westminster City Council Place Shaping team and LACUNA are inviting expressions of interest from artists to design a permanent site specific 2D mural commission on 7-9 Praed Street, Paddington.

To Apply
The full brief and Expression of Interest (EOI) form can be found on Curator Space here

Applications must be submitted via curatorspace.com. 

For questions please contact: Alice Sandon, Arts Producer, LACUNA: alice@lacuna-projects.com

Please review this document and the FAQs before contacting the Arts Producer.

Deadline for submissions: 5.00pm (GMT), Friday 24 April 2026.

Final selected artist will further receive a fee of £15,000 to further develop their artistic concept & proposal, and work with the muralists or art handlers to install the final artwork. 

The artist fee will be increased by £5,000 to £20,000 should a secondary wall be introduced. Please note, this is not a new artwork and rather an extension of the original artwork.

Entry Requirements

Only entries with the following requirements will be considered:

1. Submissions that meet the criteria
2. A fully completed expression of interest form 
3. We only accept a maximum of one application per artist. Any artist exceeding the limit will be automatically disqualified.

We encourage all artists, whose work meets the above criteria, to apply. WCC is an inclusive and diverse community; artists of all races, genders, disabilities and identities are invited to apply.

If you have any access needs you would like to share with us, please email alice@lacuna-projects.com  

Selection Process

• Submitted expression of interests will be presented for shortlisting to the local Jury Panel.
• Three shortlisted artists will then be invited to lead community workshops (as detailed in their proposal) and finally present a mock-up of the final artwork to the jury panel, where a winner will be selected. 
• Themes can be developed and refined through a series of community workshops with residents, businesses and other key stakeholders. These workshops are expected to create spaces for the exchange of ideas and development of a shared vision for the area.
• Following the winner being selected, the project team liaises with the landowner and negotiates with the local authority legislative teams, as well as engineering and installation team. When this process is complete, meeting the conditions of the budget, the final artwork selection will be announced.