  The coupling of spin-3 gauge fields to three-dimensional Maxwell and
$AdS$-Lorentz gravity theories is presented. After showing how the usual spin-3
extensions of the $AdS$ and the Poincar\'e algebras in three dimensions can be
obtained as expansions of $\mathfrak{sl}\left( 3,\mathbb{R}\right)$ algebra,
the procedure is generalized so as to define new higher-spin symmetries.
Remarkably, the spin-3 extension of the Maxwell symmetry allows one to
introduce a novel gravity model coupled to higher-spin topological matter with
vanishing cosmological constant, which in turn corresponds to a flat limit of
the $AdS$-Lorentz case. We extend our results to define two different families
of higher-spin extensions of three-dimensional Einstein gravity.
