Dunedin (Friday, 10 January 2025) – The Dunedin City Council (DCC) has reopened submissions on its draft Festivals and Events Plan following a surge of interest after the initial deadline closed.

The new deadline for submissions, which reopened today, is Monday, 20 January 2025.

Chair of the Economic Development Committee Councillor Andrew Whiley says the draft Festivals and Events Plan will play a key role in shaping the future of events in Dunedin.

It also sets out broad focus areas and a new vision to ensure we have a collective view of where we want to take events, what makes them a success, and how they enrich our city.

“This is an important document which sets an aspirational direction for our events in Dunedin and many of these events are led by our community, so it’s essential for them to have their say on this Plan,” he says.

The Plan will replace the previous Festivals and Events Plan 2018-2023. To date there have been 17 submissions received during the initial consultation period which ran from 5 December 2024 to 5 January 2025.

Preliminary engagement and workshops with a wide range of stakeholders held in August and September last year also informed the draft plan.

Dunedin Destination Manager Sian Sutton says due to ongoing interest in the draft Plan, we have decided to reopen the consultation period and extend it for another ten days.

“We really want as many submissions as possible from industry and community.

We’ve really appreciated the high level of interest from our community to date, and feel excited about co-creating a roadmap that sets a vision for the future of events across the city,” she says.

Submissions close 5pm Monday, 20 January 2025.

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