Major Event Funding round one recipients announced
Major Event Funding round one recipients announced
Recipients of the first round of
this year's Economic Development Committee's Major Events
Fund have been announced.
The following events have been allocated sponsorship:
• Leadfoot Festival: $40,000. This is a unique weekend in Hahei bringing together a mix of classic cars, vintage motorcycles and motorsports legends.
• Thunderbeach: $5,000. This is a three day Motorcycle Rally based out of Mercury Bay.
• Tairua Wet n Wild: $5,000. A two-day wet and wild jetski action in Tairua Harbour.
• Thames Festival of Mindsports This is a weekend of sports that challenge the mind including sudoku, chess, dungeons and dragons and much more. $5,000 (from round 2 fund)
There will be another funding round later this year. For more details, go to our Major Events Fund page here.
The decision was made by our Economic Development Committee.
We want to congratulate event organisers who have been successful with sponsorship.
"The Committee has made decisions on events that have the most potential to grow economic returns to the district, over time, and those most closely aligned to the intent and criteria of the event strategy;" says Mayor Glenn Leach. "It was a tough series of decisions to have to make".
Why did other applicants not get funded?
Essentially, the purpose of the Major Events Fund is to:
1 - Help take existing events to a significantly higher level
2 - Incubate new events (based on the criteria specified here)
Existing events
If a successfull existing event did not receive finding it was likely because the applicants did not show how the investment from the fund would take the event to a much greater level. The fund is not designed to sustain existing events at the current level. Nor is it designed to help incremental growth. The committee needed to feel the investment would take the event to a significantly higher level.
Given the events fund is administered by the Economic Development Committee, it would be reasonable to expect that significant growth should be presented in measurable economic or commercial terms to the Committee.
New events
What about relatively new events with great ideas and a growing support base that didn't get funded? Relatively new is not the same as a new idea needing support to get started.
Unless the event is so new that without incubation investment it would not have a chance, (or is receiving followup from an initial incubation investment by the fund) the committee would have declined.
What if an event is up and running but is running purely on vounteer support? The events fund is not provided to replace volunteers or corporate sponsorship. In fact, even new events have to show how they will support themselves after the initial investment. The committee is looking for self-sustaining events.
If an event is already up and running with reasonable support, then local Community Boards are more likely to be able to help with incremental growth.
Relatively new - but existing - event applications need to convince the commercially focussed committee of a significant jump in economic benefit beyond what could be expected without Major Event Fund investment.
Who makes these decisions?
Economic Development Committee Membership
His Worship, the Mayor Glenn Leach
(Chairperson)
Councillor, Peter French
Community Board
Chairperson, Bob Renton (Tairua-Pauanui Community
Board).
External members who have now been appointed
are:
Mr Brent Page
A resident of the
Coromandel, Mr Page is a director and part-owner of a
nationally recognised computer and IT services company. Mr
Page is currently the Chair of Destination Coromandel (our
Regional Tourism Organisation) and was instrumental in the
successful restructure of the RTO over the past few years.
Mr Page brings to the committee extensive commercial and
governance experience.
Mr. Leigh
Hopper
A well-known and successful businessman
on the Coromandel, Mr. Hopper has extensive experience in
property development, marketing, contracting and
entrepreneurship. As the principal shareholder and managing
director of Hopper Developments, Mr. Hopper is responsible
for the day-to-day running of the Hopper Construction
company and the strategic planning and direction of the
organisation.
Mr. Grahame Christian
Mr
Christian is a property-owner at Whangapoua, and managing
director and single shareholder of Smart Environmental - a
large national refuse and recycling firm. Mr Christian has
extensive commercial and governance experience and is very
also experienced in the local government sector. He is
Chairman of the Pare Hauraki Asset Holdings Limited, a
significant commercial entity in the region, managing
fisheries assets for the Hauraki Maori Trust
Board.
Free investment
resources
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