Fermanagh Community Festivals Fund

Overview

Fermanagh District Council under its Community Services function operate two grant aid programmes supporting local community festivals and event.

• Community Festivals Small Grants Programme up to £700
• The Community Festivals Fund available for grants in excess of £700

A community festival is a series of events with a common theme and delivered within a defined time period.It is developed from within a community and should celebrate and positively promote what the community represents.

Community festivals are about participation, involvement and the creation of a sense of identity and are important in contributing to the social well being of a community.

• They must be initiated and led by a community organisation or a community-led partnership.
• It is not enough to run a festival for a community - the community must play a strong part in the development and delivery of the festival and have ownership of it.
• Council will support festivals, which attempt to attract new audiences from within Fermanagh and beyond.

Successive year funding may be available at the discretion of Fermanagh District Council and will be dependant upon previous observance of funding conditions and evidence of how festival activities have evolved to contribute to increased cross community understanding and involve a high degree of community involvement.

It is expected that those leading events, workshops etc will represent the broadest range of views and background and that venues are accessible to all the community.

Care should be taken to ensure that community festivals do not clash with each other so as to maximise audience participation, support and income.