Larne Borough Council's Community Festivals Fund

Overview

Definition of a community

There are two types of communities that may apply to CFF:

• geographical communities - a town, village, neighbourhood, rural area;
• communities of interest - a group of people who have a common interest, concern or characteristic.

Who can apply?

This fund is for festivals that are developed by and for 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 on behalf of a community - the community must play a strong part in the development and delivery of the festival and have ownership of it.

The organisation must have a governing document (Constitution or Articles and Memorandum of Association) that has been properly adopted.

Membership of the organisation must be open to all regardless of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic identity, religious belief, political opinion, marital status and with or without dependents.

Festivals developed by public bodies or private sector companies cannot apply to CFF.

Eligible and Ineligible Costs and Projects

Applications may be made for financial assistance towards events which may include performing arts, visual arts, cultural, recreational and sporting activities including workshops, displays, exhibitions, lectures, performances, competitions and other activities. A draft festival programme should be included with the application for funding.

Eligible costs may include:

Event insurance, venue hire, performance fees, transport, equipment hire/ purchase, signage, advertising, marketing and media costs, printing, administration (stationery, postage etc).

Ineligible Costs

Further, within selected projects there will be non-eligible items. The following items are ineligible for funding and cannot be included within eligible costs:

• Festival management fees - a management fee may be allowed with agreement of Council before submission of an application. This must be offset against specific objectives and targets, which must be reached before the management fee is deemed an eligible expense.
• Staff salaries - however, where staffs are specifically festival-related, Council may consider allowing a proportion basic salary costs. This must be discussed with Council staff before submission of an application and only applies to festivals with total costs in excess of £50,000. Staff costs may amount to no more than 10% of total costs and may be capped at the discretion of the assessment panel.
• Core running costs including overheads such as electricity, rent, rates, membership fees and annual premises and organisation's insurance. Electricity may be eligible where the supply is specifically for the festival on site. Phone bills will be capped as a percentage of festival costs. All bills must be itemised and the line rental will generally not be considered.
• Hospitality costs, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Council in advance of submission of an application.
• Prize money
• Interest charges and repayments of capital in respect of borrowings.
• Professional fees, consultants' fees, bank charges and accountancy or audit fees
• Provision for depreciation of assets used in the festival.
• Corporation taxation.
• Capital expenditure e.g. computers, digital cameras, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Council before submission of an application.
• Charitable donations.
• VAT payments, where the applicant is VAT registered and reclaiming VAT.
• Any costs not approved by the assessment panel.

Costs incurred prior to the signing of the Funding Agreement or Letter of Offer will be incurred at the applicant's own risk. It will be at the discretion of Larne Borough Council as to whether any such costs will be considered eligible.

Funding

It is not anticipated that any single grant for a festival would be lower than £500 or would exceed £5000, but Council reserves the right to increase the amount if deemed appropriate.

The level of grant awarded will depend on how the project meets the assessment criteria detailed above and there is no guarantee that successful applicants will receive the amount applied for.

Applications are restricted to no more than one per organisation in any financial year.