10 June 2010
Event organisers seeking council support to stage events in the Waipa district should consider getting their skates on.
At last week’s (Tuesday June 8) policy committee meeting, Councillors recommended that the closing date for applications to the District Promotions Fund be brought forward one month. If the recommendation is accepted at the next Council meeting, applications will close at the end of July, instead of at the end of August.
Manager, community relationships Jeanette Tyrrell said the $100,000 District Promotions Fund was established to encourage organisers to stage events in the district.
“Events bring a number of benefits and not just the obvious economic ones in terms of visitor numbers and their resultant spending,” she said. “Events add life and vitality to the district, provide opportunities for locals and help ensure key sites like the Kihikihi Domain are well utilised.”
Events which have previously been supported via the district promotions fund include the Mitavite International Horse Trial at Kihikihi, international waka ama competition at Lake Karapiro, national netball fixtures at Mystery Creek, and national basketball league games at the Te Awamutu Events Centre. The most financial support that could be given to any one event was $10,000.
The policy committee also squashed any possibility of “double-dipping” from event organisers by recommending that financial support for the same event could only be sought from one council source.
Council was planning an information evening in July to assist event organisers and ensure they were clear about Council’s expectations.
“We’re not prepared to simply hand over money and leave event organisers to it,” Ms Tyrrell said. “We have expectations of all event organisers and we expect those to be met.”