Maribyrnong council endorsed the funding recommendations for the 2023/24 Signature Festivals and Activations program, increasing the budget.
In its meeting on Tuesday, September 19, council carried the officer’s recommendation that the 18 applicants will receive funding to a total of $390,000 across the two streams.
Additionally, $38,545 has been allocated for council to continue to support funded festivals.
Councillor Bernadette Thomas said there is a much community interest in holding and organising community led events.
“We have had over $400,000 worth of submissions, which of course we can’t handle all of those,” she said.
“We are going to fund a really comprehensive and fun and wide ranging suite of festivals that a lot of people in our community will really benefit from.”
Councillor Michael Clarke said the festival’s program is a huge draw card for the municipality.
“What we are doing is bringing a rather diverse range of activities and a huge diverse range of members of not just our local community but external to our community, into our city,” he said.
“Having funding for a two year period is done to provide certainty to the organisation and that makes their life that much easier as they plan to go forward.”
