Alison Denning, (Festivals and Events Officer), presented the annual report on the Events Fund 2019-20. This was the final report following the funds discontinuation.

·         That the report covered the period between April 2019 and September 2019.

·         34 applications were received.

·         28 awards were made. These provided a wide range of events and activities.

·         Events took place in 10 wards and in 30 venues.

·         That Officers had encouraged the organisations to apply for the Small Grants Fund.  However, there was no specific funding stream regarding the arts in the Small Grants Programme.

·         That the organisations may apply still for funding from Small Grants Programme and may be eligible to receive funding if their activities supported one of the programmes themes.

Councillor Tarik Khan (Scrutiny Lead, Resources) advised of the Overview and Scrutiny’s questions on this report. Clarity was sought on the measures to ensure that projects previously funded through the Annual Events Fund were made aware of the small grants programme and the events were captured within this new funding stream.

In response to questions from the Sub –Committee – the following points were noted:

·         Officers reported that they have encouraged the groups to apply for small grants from the Small Grants Programme, but a lot had not been successful.

·         Members expressed support for looking at ways of providing continued support for projects supported by the Events Fund. The Mayor requested that further consideration should be given to this issue in consultation with the Chair of the Sub – Committee.

DECISION:

1.         That  the report is noted.

Alison Denning, (Festivals and Events Officer), presented the annual report on the Events Fund 2019-20. This was the final report following the funds discontinuation.

·         That the report covered the period between April 2019 and September 2019.

·         34 applications were received.

·         28 awards were made. These provided a wide range of events and activities.

·         Events took place in 10 wards and in 30 venues.

·         That Officers had encouraged the organisations to apply for the Small Grants Fund.  However, there was no specific funding stream regarding the arts in the Small Grants Programme.

·         That the organisations may apply still for funding from Small Grants Programme and may be eligible to receive funding if their activities supported one of the programmes themes.

Councillor Tarik Khan (Scrutiny Lead, Resources) advised of the Overview and Scrutiny’s questions on this report. Clarity was sought on the measures to ensure that projects previously funded through the Annual Events Fund were made aware of the small grants programme and the events were captured within this new funding stream.

In response to questions from the Sub –Committee – the following points were noted:

·         Officers reported that they have encouraged the groups to apply for small grants from the Small Grants Programme, but a lot had not been successful.

·         Members expressed support for looking at ways of providing continued support for projects supported by the Events Fund. The Mayor requested that further consideration should be given to this issue in consultation with the Chair of the Sub – Committee.

RESOLVED:

1.         That  the report is noted.