The Chamber of Commerce has received the following notice for a funding opportunity from Coralee Oakes, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.
“Following on the success of the 2015 Canada Winter Games, the Government of British Columbia recently announced actions that will further promote our province as a world-class event hosting destination and open the doors to increased tourism and economic growth in our communities.
We are currently undertaking the development of a five-year hosting strategy to support British Columbia becoming the destination of choice for sport and cultural events.
In support of this five-year strategy, non-profit organizations in your community will be pleased to hear about EventHostBC — a $250,000 one-time funding opportunity which encourages small events that strengthen volunteer capacity for event hosting throughout the province.
Eligible non-profits are invited to apply for up to $5,000 per event, awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. This funding will be distributed based on British Columbia’s six tourism regions. The initiative is to provide a stimulus for new events or to assist existing events that are currently ineligible for other provincial government funding.
For more information about EventHostBC grants, visit: http://www.cscd.gov.bc.ca/arts_culture/EventHostBC.htm.
Anything you can do to help get the word out to your community leaders and organizations so they can apply for this funding would be most appreciated.
To maximize opportunities across the province, a Hosting Toolkit is being developed that will assist communities and organizations in attracting, managing and leveraging events to boost tourism revenue and support economic diversification. This toolkit will include components such as: a province-wide recreation facility inventory;
- a province-wide recreation facility inventory
- an economic impact assessment tool;
- bid package templates;
- volunteer training and management tools;
- sponsorship package templates and sponsor recruitment resources; and
- a way to document and share lessons learned.
I look forward to sharing this resource with you once completed.
I would also like to take this opportunity to again encourage you and your key community organizations to take advantage of free events listing resources at: www.tourismbc.net/dms/Public/EventInput2.aspx and http://www.viasport.ca/events/facilities.
Working together, we can all benefit from the positive impact of hosting events and shining the spotlight on our amazing communities throughout the province.”
Sincerely,
Coralee Oakes,
Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development