Ards & North Down Borough Council: Christmas Festival Fund
Overview
The purpose of the fund is to enable communities to run local festivals to celebrate the festive period and the switching on of Christmas Lights.
Local community groups are invited to apply for funding to enable community groups to run festivals to celebrate the festive period and MUST include switching on of the Christmas lights.
The fund is restricted to the towns and village detailed below, where the Council provides Christmas trees and lights, but does not organise and run Christmas festivals for the community.
Who can apply?
The Christmas fund is restricted to constituted community groups in towns and villages listed below:
Villages
- Ballygowan
- Ballyhalbert
- Ballywalter
- Carrowdore
- Conlig
- Cloughey
- Greyabbey
- Groomsport
- Helen’s Bay
- Killinchy
- Kircubbin
- Millisle
- Portaferry
- Portavogie
Towns
- Comber
- Donaghadee
- Holywood
Funding Available
The Christmas Festival applications will be open once a year with the opportunity to apply for up to £1000 for Villages and £3000 for towns (as listed above), subject to funds being available.
80% of the total funding awarded to successful applicants will be issued upon approval, subject to the submission of the organisations bank details if this information is not already held by the Council. All applicants will be required to submit original invoices, receipts, and bank statements in order to verify all funding awarded. The balance of total funding (20%) will be released upon full verification and approval of the total value of the award. If this information is incomplete or not provided or the funding is not spent in line with approved costs, the funding must be repaid to council. The maximum amount available is £1000 for villages and £3000 for towns, per group per application.
Guidelines
The Christmas fund is restricted to constituted community groups and only one application can be made per town/village. Therefore, where more than one constituted community group is active within a town or village, potential applicants are advised to collaborate and work in partnership with each other to run a Christmas Festival. This funding is for Christmas Festivals only. Applications for other festivals will not be considered. The Christmas grants cannot be used in conjunction with any other Council funding streams. The Christmas Festival applications will be open once a year with the opportunity to apply for up to £1000 for Villages and £3000 for towns (as listed above), subject to funds being available. They shall be advertised in the local press and on the council’s website. Please do not alter the layout/format of the application for in anyway as this may result in your application not being scored. Council officers will not complete application forms on behalf of applicants.
Eligible Expenditure
- Insurance for the festival (day or period of time the festival happens)
- Venue Hire
- Entertainment costs – such as: Bouncy Castles, face painters, balloon modelling etc.
- Equipment hire
- Catering
- Advertising and Marketing
- Printing
- Administration related to the festival (stationery, postage etc.)