Causeway Coast and Glens Council approves almost £64k for 43 community festivals in Borough

At Tuesday’s Leisure and Development Committee meeting, members approved £63,963 in Community Festivals Fund grants for 43 successful applicants.

As a joint-funded strategy, £36,163 of the funding will be paid for by the council while the remainder paid by the Department for Communities (DfC).

A Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council officer said the fund was established by DfC “in recognition of the positive contribution that festivals can make to communities and to the local economy”.

They added: “A key priority of DfC’s is to enable communities to enhance their quality of life through participation and engagement in culture, arts and leisure activities. Council receives funding from DfC on an annual basis to operate a fund, which it is required to match.

“Confirmation of grant funding has not yet been received from DfC, so to enable timely decisions to be communicated to applicants, some of which having events planned for April and May, approval is being sought in principle. The assumption has been made that the DfC funding award to Council will be at the same rate as 2023-24.

“The grant programme was opened for applications on December 11, 2023, with a closing date of February 2, 2024. The grant opening was publicly advertised as part of Council’s annual grant programme, and online grants roadshows were held to provide potential applicants with details of the grant programmes.”

A Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council officer explained that the amount applied for exceeds the expected budget by £433 but, since this is a small amount, it will be taken from the general Community Development programme budget.

Successful applicants include Armstrong Storytelling Trust’s Glens Storytelling Festival 2024, held between October 17 and October 20, and Balnamore Community Association’s Cultural Celebration, which takes place from July 11 to July 13.

Committee member DUP Alderman Aaron Callan proposed that members of the Leisure and Development Committee approve the funding, and said that it was “good to see a broad range of groups coming forward to host these events”.