Mayor and Council Back Events

The Queenstown Lakes District Council has affirmed its investment in events in the district. QLDC Mayor Jim Boult said the Council was delighted to continue its commitment to ensuring the success of local events, some of which had not only local and national reach but significant global profile.

In total the Council currently commits $843,000 annually to events, inclusive of Christmas and New Year’s Eve events. In the latest round, $583,500 of funding was approved to be allocated to 17 major events planned for the Queenstown Lakes District in the next 12 months. The recommendations were considered by Council at last week’s meeting.

“We need to continue to host a wide range of community and commercial events. It’s an investment in the community through arts, community and sports events. It’s an investment in direct economic benefit to our district. And in the case of some major events it’s an investment in the New Zealand economy and more specifically international tourism promotion,” he said.

This year’s line-up was impressive and included the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup, Warbirds over Wanaka, the Audi Quattro Winter Games, the LUMA Southern Light Project and the IPS Handa NZ Golf Open, to name a few.

The Council had also applied the principle of anchor events, designed to give events a helping hand to step up over a maximum period of three years to cement a place in the local event calendar and attract sponsorship. Anchor events were typically large events with distinctive qualities and this year included the Air New Zealand Queenstown International Marathon, the Akarua Arrowtown Autumn Festival, Warbirds over Wanaka and the Queenstown Winter Festival.

The grants approved for 2017-18 are:

· ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup 2018 - $52,000

· ISPS Handa New Zealand Open 2018 - $120,000

· LUMA Southern Light Project 2018 - $100,000

· Queenstown Winter Festival (Community Day) 2018 - $75,000

· Warbirds Over Wanaka 2018 - $50,000

· Audi quattro Winter Games 2017 - $59,000 (this is in addition to $41,000 approved in the 2016/17 funding round, bringing their total allocation to $100,000)

· Akarua Arrowtown Autumn Festival 2018 - $12,000

· Aspiring Conversations 2018 - $15,000

· Biophilia Festival 2018 - $5,000

· Challenge Wanaka 2018 - $18,000

· Gibbston Wine and Food Festival 2018 - $6,000

· Air New Zealand Queenstown International Marathon 2017 - $20,000

· Macpac Motatapu 2018 - $10,000

· NZ Mountain Film & Book Festival 2018 - $11,500

· Queenstown JazzFest 2017 - $10,000

· Spartan Race Queenstown 2018 - $10,000

· Tuki Festival 2018 - $10,000

The next funding round will be in April 2018. Applications for up to $30,000 are considered by the Events Funding Panel, while applications for larger amounts are determined by the full Council.

Local Community Support applications towards in-kind costs under $5,000 are received year-round and are considered by the QLDC Events Office.

ENDS

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