Two Dungog shire art projects have each secured $20,000 in State Government funding.
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Michael Johnsen MP, Member for Upper Hunter was in town on Saturday to congratulate the committees of the Sculpture on the Farm Inc. and Dungog Contemporary on securing the funding from the NSW Government’s 2018 Incubator Event Fund.
Mr Johnsen said the NSW Government Fund assists rural and regional events in their first or second year to grow attendance and boost the local visitor economy.
“Whether it’s food and wine events or music and sporting festivals, local events play an important role in driving additional overnight visitation to our Upper Hunter electorate,” Mr Johnsen said.
“The Sculpture on the Farm and the Dungog Region Arts and Culture Trail are a fantastic way to fuel our local economy by putting more heads on hotel beds, diners in our restaurants and shoppers in our boutiques, and I am delighted these events will benefit from the NSW Government’s funding support.”
The Sculpture on the Farm Exhibition will be held at Fosterton on the October long weekend.
Whilst Philippa and John Graham are personally funding the $10,000 acquisitive prizemoney for the event, the grant money will be used for running expenses such as advertising, traffic control, signage, portaloos, sound and lighting.
“It is hoped that in subsequent years income from sculpture sales will fund these sorts of expenses, but in the initial start up phase, this government grant will make a significant difference to the viability and success of what is planned as an annual event,” said committee member Lisa Connors.
The Dungog Region Arts and Culture Trail will be held from November 23 to 25.
“Stephen Hobbs and I are delighted at this news and look forward to working with the local Arts and Culture Community to develop and deliver a successful trail, which we will run as an annual event in the Dungog Shire,” said Sarah Crawford from Dungog Contemporary.
Mr Johnsen said the NSW Government is doing everything it can to supercharge regional communities, with an extra $500,000 committed to boost the Regional Flagship Events Program.
The Dungog Region Arts and Culture Trail and the Sculpture on the Farm are two of 33 successful events in rural and regional NSW which will be held between July and December this year.
The Incubator Event Fund offers one-off grants of up to $20,000 to those staging an event for the first or second time to fund staging, venue hire, research, marketing and publicity activities.
