Nelson City Council Economic Events Fund

These are events that contribute to economic and community well-being benefits to Nelson, build social capital and cohesion, increase visitors during shoulder and off-peak seasons, and enhance the city and regional profile nationally and internationally.

The following are the principles against which events will be assessed for funding from the Nelson Events Fund.

Strategic alignment

Events should align with the regional identity framework and, where aiming to deliver economic value, be relevant to our identified target markets (see Appendix 1). They should also align with relevant Council policy.

Delivery against strategy objectives

Delivery of the strategy’s objectives needs to be clearly demonstrated in terms of economic and/or community well-being. A desirable return on investment will be assessed on a case-by-case basis for economic benefit. Note: The Council has a return on investment target for the Economic Events component of the Fund that is in line with a national approach and recognises the scale of the Nelson district. This is set at 20:1.

Seasonality

Events primarily delivering economic benefit should increase the number of visitors attracted to Nelson during the ‘off-season’ period from 1 March to 30 November. Community events can receive support during any period, but preference will be given to those that add vitality and interest to the city during the ‘off-season’. It is expected that community events timed during Nelson’s high season will have larger audiences available and more opportunities to be self-sufficient thus ratepayer support is less necessary.

Capacity to deliver outcomes

The strength of the event organiser’s application will be assessed, including evidence of relevant skills, capability to deliver, and other sources of public funding. The application should include a multi-year strategy that shows an understanding of the stages of event development and sets these against relevant Key Performance Indicators for each stage. The application should show a pathway to sustainability and an exit point at which Nelson Events Fund support will no longer be required.

Context for support

There is a limited pool of public funding to support events, and the Events Development Committee must be mindful of the impact of funding decisions on other potentially significant event applications and the need to retain sufficient flexibility to respond to emerging events. Thus, it may not always be possible to support event applications, even if they are a good fit with these principles.

NRDA is the first point of contact for event organisers. We manage the administration of the Nelson City Council Economic Events Fund and can support them with marketing tools, promotion, and partnership opportunities.