A community Festival is a series of events with a common theme and delivered within a defined time period. It is developed from within a community and should celebrate and positively promote what the community represents. Community festivals are about participation, involvement and the creation of a sense of identity and are important in contributing to the social well-being of a community. They must be initiated and led by a community organisation or a community led partnership. It is not enough to run a festival for a community, the community must play a strong part in the development and delivery of the festival and have ownership of it.

The following are the Community Festival/Events key criteria;

• Promotes social inclusion and improving community relations

• Has strong community participation in the design and delivery of the event

• Provides opportunities for your community to express and celebrate their cultural heritage

• Provides opportunities for development - this includes capacity building, links with other organisations and diversity of activities

• Attracts visitors to the area

• Demonstrates how it will ensure that hard to reach groups will engage with your festival as volunteers, participants and audience

• Demonstrate how it will complement and contribute to the existing calendar of events

• Maximises non-public sources of income (e.g. through commercial sponsorship, donations, ticket sales, advertising revenue, etc)

• Demonstrates value for money and good financial governance

The fund opened for applications on 21st November 2022 and will close on 12th January 2023. For more information and to apply, please visit Community Festival Fund 2023/24 (LIVE) - Derry City and Strabane District Council (smapply.org)