Amendment requested for tourism grant funding programme
Six funding applications for 2026/27 were approved at the March 2026 committee meeting.
COUNCILLORS have been asked to make an amendment to the Tourism Event grant funding programme for 2027/28
Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s Tourism Event grant funding programme supports the delivery of large scale tourism events in the Borough by external organisations. The programme provides grants of up to £15,000 to organisations who are able to clearly demonstrate economic and reputational benefits to the council area by attracting large numbers of visitors to their event.
These benefits include bed nights / accommodation spend, ancillary spend such as hospitality, local retail and visitor attractions, and positive media/social media coverage that ‘increases the attractiveness of the council area as a visitor destination’.
Six funding applications for 2026/27 were approved at the March 2026 committee. They were the Shane’s Castle May Day Steam Rally 2026, Antrim and Newtownabbey Pipe Band and Drum Majors Championship 2026, Whiteabbey Village Fair 2026, Toome Fair 2026, Halloween in Antrim 2026 and FarmFLiX #onThePull26.
A report before the Community Development Committee this week said: “The events that receive Tourism Grant funding tend to be annual events that the council has supported for a number of years. To help the organisers of these events plan effectively for future years, it is proposed that interested parties are offered the opportunity to apply for either two-year grants every other year, or single year grants every year, in line with the approach already taken for the Community Festival Fund grant aid programme. It is anticipated that 80% of the grant budget would be allocated to two-year grants, and 20% to single year grants.
“A budget of £90,280 has been proposed in the draft 2027/28 Arts and Culture budget estimates for Tourism Event grant funding. This proposed amendment would not affect the 2027/28 estimates process. To align the Tourism Event grant aid programme with the Community Festival Fund programme and to help external event organisers plan effectively for future years, it is proposed that two-year Tourism Event grants are offered every other year in addition to single year grants which will continue to be offered every year.
“It is recommended that the proposal to amend the Tourism Event grant funding programme for 2027/28 to allow for two-year grants every second year and single year grants every year be approved”
Meanwhile the committee was also given an update on the financial performance for the Community and Culture Directorate for Period 6 – April 2026 to September 2026.
At period 6, the Community and Culture Directorate has a favourable variance of £354k, or 8.0%, against the budgeted financial performance for the period.