Belfast City Council: Park Events Grant

Overview

Funding Limits

• Maximum award: £3,000
• Minimum award: £1,000

Groups may apply for more than one award, but the minimum they can apply for is £1,000 and the maximum they will be able to receive each financial year is £3,000. Where groups apply for the minimum award of £1,000, if the total cost of the eligible items in the budget requested from Belfast City Council is less than £1,000 this could deem your application ineligible.

Purpose of the fund

The Belfast City Council Parks Events Small Grant is aimed at encouraging more people to get involved in parks throughout Belfast, to help create a sense of ownership and improve the quality of life for people living in the city.

They want to encourage communities and organisations to stage their own events in Belfast City Council’s parks and open spaces and we would encourage you to meet with a member of the Open Spaces & Active Living Unit before you make your application.

Parks Events Grant - specific conditions for eligibility

Organisations applying for this grant must be based within the Belfast City Council area. However consideration will be given to applications from groups with charitable status which have only one base in Northern Ireland and which fall outside our electoral area.

Your event must take place in a Belfast City Council, Parks and Cemeteries’ owned park or open space and should not contravene park bye-laws, for example, no alcohol may be sold or consumed as part of an event. A number of parks have entertainments licences in place for indoor and outdoor events and if you want to provide entertainment at your event, for example, live music, cinema, theatrical performances; you will need to contact us to ensure that the venue is licensed.

Please note that due to operational demands, the grounds of City Hall is no longer available as an event location.

Organisations must be able to:

• Show they can meet our standards and gain public support for their event
• Stage a high quality event
• Demonstrate how they will gain support from their local community

Eligible Project Costs

They may give funding for the following items if expenditure has been incurred as part of the event which must take place in a Belfast City Council, parks and cemeteries’ owned park or open space:

• Professional services for example entertainers and musicians
• Small items for example face paints, shrubs or trees, capped at 5% of the total grant awarded.
• Food served as part of the event, capped at 10% of the total grant awarded.
• Hire of facilities for example marquees, portaloos, and so on
• Public liability insurance (for the event only)

Criteria for assessment

Weighting (%)

• Need and demand for the event - 10
• Your event needs to fit at leastthreeof the following (but its advantageous if it meets all four): 60
  • Environmental benefit - does your event benefit the local environment within the park or open space? Will it have an immediate/temporary, medium or long term environmental benefit?For example:
    • Through a litter clean-up as part of the event and not just before or after the event
    • Shrub or tree planting, temporary art
    • Habitat management - this would have to be done according to the park management plan
  • Educational benefit - does your event provide educational benefits to those attending? For example
    • Information on a relevant issue, theme or message that will help to change attitudes
    • Link to the school curriculum
  • Health benefit - does your event provide health benefits to those attending?
    • For example activities that encourage exercise walking or children’s games. Sporting competitions are not covered by this
  • Community benefit - does your event benefit the community surrounding the park or open space? For example:
    • Helps to encourage a sense of ownership by the local community
    • Provides opportunities for cross community activity
• Fabric of Park / Promotion of Park - 10
  • Does your event use the fabric of the park in a way which will help to promote aspects of the park?
  • For example an event that uses park paths for a guided walk or includes activities that are based around historical or natural features in the park.
• Local or District Park - 10
  • They are keen to encourage events in some of our local and district parks, as such scoring will be higher for events taking place in these parks and lower for events happening in major parks such as Botanic Gardens, Ormeau Park and Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park. A full list of parks and playing fields in Belfast is available fromwww.belfastcity.gov.uk/parks
• Organisation, management and value for money - 10
  • The group must demonstrate their ability to manage the event and must demonstrate that this event represents value for money.

Application notes

• It is the responsibility of the Event Organiser to ensure that there is adequate provision of toilet facilities, car parking and stewarding etc for their event.
• No foodstuffs, including ice cream, should be sold that will intrude on the rights of any person holding a franchise for selling such items within a park. Event organisers should make sure that any vendors invited to the event have any necessary licences and food hygiene certificates. They reserve the right to inspect these licences.
• The event must be in addition to those listed within the programme of events already organised by their Parks and Leisure department. Details of events are available from our website www.belfastcity.gov.uk/events
• If they believe the event is of a sufficiently large scale, we reserve the right to seek a Reinstatement Bond for any damage done to the park, as well as a formal Licence Agreement governing use of the park.
• There should be no admission charge to the event, no sale or hire of goods/services or collection of monies, for example charity donations or sponsorship at the event
• The event must take place during park opening hours. Details of opening hours are available from www.belfastcity.gov.uk/parks
• Please note you must get our approval before you make any changes to the project or to the budget
• If your application for a grant is successful, you must liaise with the relevant Community Park Manager prior to your event taking place. A completed risk assessment, event management plan and proof of public liability insurance up to £5 million must be submitted by your organisation to the Open Spaces and Active Living Unit at least 4 weeks before your event. The contact details are 9050 0529 or outdoorleisure@belfastcity.gov.uk . Failure to do so will result in the withdrawal of the grant offer. Templates of a risk assessment and an event management plan are available at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/usingparks.

Completing your budget for small grants

You must show that all costs are reasonable and necessary to complete the project, and you should give them enough detail to assess this. For example, you should give the unit costs and quantities needed, 10 artists x £50 = total cost £500.

They will not consider your application as eligible if you do not provide a detailed project budget.