Northern Development Initiative Trust’s Fabulous Festival and Events program has been around one year and is being deemed a success.
Director of Communications Joel McKay says the program was created to support tourism and help bring people to Northern events.
“What we had heard was that a lot of these festivals and events had struggled with access funding annually and they don’t know how much they will get. Our grant program is a small grant – it’s only $2500 per event per year – but it’s available each year.”
In its first year, the program has given over $100,000 to 70 festivals, which stretched from Prince George to Haida Gwaii and Atlin.
The money comes from the Trust’s regional development account, so McKay adds that organizers can rely on this money year after year to help with things like with planning, volunteer burnout, and attracting more people.
Northern Development will look for new ways to improve communication between events moving forward.