Marlborough District Council Media Statement

Commercial Events Fund taking applications now

The $75,000 Commercial Events Fund set up by the District Council to foster new events for the region is now open for applications.

The Fund has been set up to help attract new events and to offer some help to build on existing events which have the potential to expand. It is intended that the Fund be split 70%/30% between new and existing events that comply with the Fund’s criteria. More details of the criteria are available on the Council’s website or by contacting the Council.

The fund is open to any event manager or organiser running commercial events in New Zealand however, to be considered for this funding, the event must be held within the Marlborough District Council boundaries. Community events, conferences, conventions, trade shows and exhibitions are not eligible.

Applications will be considered by the Council’s Events Fund subcommittee, Mayor Alistair Sowman,

Councillors Trevor Hook, Jenny Andrews and Jamie Arbuckle plus the chairman (or nominee) of Destination Marlborough.

Independent advice may also be sought by the panel from time to time.

Council’s Events Coordinator Susie Witehira will attend funding meetings and provide further information and feedback but the final funding decisions and recommendations will be at the discretion of the subcommittee which will have delegated authority to approval all funding requests, reporting its decisions to Council’s Regional Planning and Development Committee.

Funding will be granted on an annual basis but it does not mean that all funds must be distributed each year.

Applications are now open, closing on 30 September 2014 with decisions to be announced at the end of October. The application form, which explains criteria and offers guidelines to applicants, is available on the Council website: www.marlborough.govt.nz/Recreation/Events/Commercial-Events-Fund

The next funding round will open on 10 February 2015 to consider any applications for the balance of funding that is available after the first round.

Any event which receives funding must complete a post-event report within three months of their event being held.

A review of the Fund’s activities will be prepared in April 2015.

Applications may be sent to:

events@marlborough.govt.nz or addressed to Events Coordinator, PO Box 443, Blenheim 7240.

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