Funding boost for events

The Victorian Government and the City of Melbourne have announced a $5 million investment in events, helping to draw people into the city while supporting jobs and businesses.

The joint $100 million Melbourne City Recovery Fun will go towards supporting events such as The Rising Festival, Winter Night Market, the World’s Longest Brunch, and Jurassic World.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said supporting events with the joint fund was a way for the council to bring back the buzz to Melbourne.

“Our city is famous for our world-class events – whether its sport, art, food or fashion – and it’s critical we support this sector to create jobs and deliver a boost to local hospitality and retail businesses,” the Lord Mayor said.

“Every visitor we can attract to Melbourne through events and activations provides more opportunities for local businesses for their cash registers to be ringing with more sales.”

More than 100 events will receive funding support, helping to attract a combined audience of up to five million people – which will deliver a major boost to small businesses in the hospitality, retail and tourism sectors.

Across the two grant rounds, 108 events have received funding support, with 83 new grants announced today worth $4.5 million.

A further 25 grants worth almost $500,000 were announced in December.

On March 13, 1300 diners attended the World’s Longest Brunch from the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, a three-course brunch in the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton Gardens designed by Kate Reid of Lune Croissanterie and Nathan Toleman, Melbourne’s “cafe king”.

Chair of the council’s City Activation portfolio Cr Roshena Campbell said that the events were critical to boost the economy after COVID.

“Every event creates work for tradies, technicians, creatives, hospitality staff and many others so we will continue to invest in the sector,” Cr Campbell said.

“There’s never been a more important time to invest in events to reactivate our city and get our streets pumping with life again.” •