Festivals Framework

Festivals are an artefact of a community's culture. Council has a role as a provider, promoter or funder of community celebrations that contribute to the development of a community's values and beliefs. Festivals provide an opportunity for people to come together, to celebrate and have fun. In this way, they contribute to the achievement of Council's goals in relation to social equity and cultural vitality.

The three assumptions that underpin Council's role in festivals are:

1. That no festival has a lifetime guarantee. Festivals are only supported by Council when they demonstrably contribute to Council's broader social and cultural aims.

2. Council's funding commitment to festivals decreases over time as community capacity to produce the festival and gather support for it increases. Grant money should be seen as seed funding only. Council may continue to fund a festival, but there should not be an assumption that as a festival grows in size, Council's contribution will also grow.

3. Alternatively, Council may decide to fund, promote or provide a festival over a longer period of time, for the specific purpose of developing a particular segment of the local arts scene. In this instance, in recognition that it takes time for these festivals to take hold and gain broader support, a longer term funding agreement is desirable.

There are three levels of celebration with which Council is involved:

Small local, neighbourhood celebrations, i.e. school fetes, street parties, larger street celebrations. Council's role is to promote these celebrations, either through specific programs or through a partnership arrangement with existing structures (school fetes), or through provision of a small discretionary budget, with which Council can support local initiatives by providing advice and perhaps funding some logistical requirements for larger scale events. These festivals should be the main funding priority within the festivals budget.

Larger scale 'theme' festivals, i.e. Recreation festival, Children's festival, Writers festival. These festivals are either generated by the Community or by Council and contribute to the promotion of diversity by celebrating different aspects of our local culture. Festivals are vigorously evaluated each year to assess their success against agreed criteria. These festivals are the second funding priority within the festivals budget.

Flagship Events. Council currently is the producer of two flagship events - the St Kilda Festival and the St Kilda Film Festival. These are festivals which have steadily grown in scale over the years, and have become a fixture on the events calendar of the City. Council does not set out to create a flagship event - these events grow themselves. Council may need to manage these events so that they remain relevant to our local culture. Within the festivals program these festivals should be our third funding priority.