A recent grant from NZCT will help The Trusts Arena in West Auckland be more financially sustainable. The $35,000 grant will go towards buying a removable covering to protect the arena floor during certain events.

The Trusts Arena is run by the Waitakere City Stadium Trust and hosts a number of sporting, community and cultural activities. Last year almost 500,000 people visited the facility to watch the likes of the Northern Mystics netball team, international music acts such as The Prodigy, children’s events Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig, and to participate in community celebrations, such as Diwali.

Commercial events hosted throughout the year help subsidise the rates that the community pay to access the facility. “Our charter has us splitting our available time 70/30 between the community and commercial events,” says Sam Norris, Funding Officer at The Trusts Arena. “We receive yearly funding from Regional Facilities Auckland which equates to about 14% of our total revenue. The rest is all made from our commercial activity.”

Many of the commercial events hosted at The Trusts Arena require the need for the hardwood floor to be carpeted. With the facility only having enough removable carpet to cover two-thirds of the floor, carpet tiles need to be hired in for every event at great cost. The facility is now 15 years old and some of the existing carpet needs to be replaced as well.

“We were thrilled when we found out our application to NZCT was successful,” says Sam. “The grant will mean we won’t have to hire in carpet for a range of events, saving the facility at least $20,000 per year. That’s money that we can reinvest into the building and also helps us to keep the community rates low.”

The Trusts Arena generates only a small surplus each year. Any additional funding it receives from funders such as NZCT is extremely important, allowing items to be bought that would not be possible otherwise.

“We really appreciate the support of NZCT,” says Sam. “Their support really does make a difference to our ability to serve the community and we feel that we can demonstrate that difference to our supporters.”

ENDS

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