With Ballarat's Carols by Candlelight event cancelled last year due to the pandemic, the City of Ballarat could extend its funding partnership for a year to make up the difference.
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Officers have proposed council's existing three-year strategic partnership with Ballarat Carols by Candlelight Inc. be extended for a further year, with the matter to be voted on by councillors at Wednesday night's council meeting.
Under the plan, funding from the 2020-21 financial year would be excluded and the remaining funding schedule would resume from this year.
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Council would also waive the $2000 hire fee for Mars Stadium for each remaining year of the agreement, cementing the event at the stadium until at least Christmas 2022.
With the funding pathway resumed, the organisation would receive support of $15,000 this financial year and $10,000 in 2022-23 from council.
City of Ballarat chief executive Evan King said extending the agreement would provide clarity around the much-loved event.
"Organising events takes a lot of time, a lot of volunteer hours and there's a reasonable amount of cost involved, so if council can give them some assurity around the length of time of the agreement and also help try and minimise costs as much as possible, then it's a win for the community," he said.
Mr King said the approach to Carols by Candlelight was consistent with council's approach to a range of events throughout the pandemic.
"In the end, council wants to work with event organisers and work with the community around finding solutions," he said.
"We don't know what COVID has in store for us going forward so if we can help these events with a bit of certainty around funding and those sorts of things, then it's one less thing they have to worry about.
"It really is just about, on a case by case scenario, seeing what we can do to find other times that they can be rescheduled or looking at what we might be able to do to help out."
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