Community event grants provide seed funding for new or up-and-coming festivals and events that demonstrate goals to enhance arts, culture, heritage and alignment with the Social Policy.
The City understands that festivals and events are vital to advancing the quality of life for all citizens in Airdrie and these events have a positive effect on social well-being. Council’s strategic vision is to enhance the unique arts, culture and recreational aspects of Airdrie and to demonstrate the value our City places on diversity, inclusion and connectedness.
Event grant application streams
Community event grants are intended to support the production and programming of events hosted by organizations and groups, which can be directed to support the costs of:
Festival and event production (insurance, marketing, etc.), and/or;
Festival and event programming.
Organizations and groups can apply once per year to the program stream they are eligible for:
First time festivals and events: Grant requests for up to $2,500 to support organizers bringing new (first year) events to Airdrie that are expected to draw more than 200 attendees. City of Airdrie gift-in-kind contributions such as facility fee waivers will be considered and factored in as part of the request.
Up and coming festivals and events: Grant requests of up to $5,000 to support organizers for events that are in year two or three of a reoccurring festival or event with an attendance of more than 200 but less than 10,000. City of Airdrie gift-in-kind contributions such as facility fee waivers will be considered and factored in as part of the request.
Applications are open to organizations and groups producing an event for the citizens of Airdrie.
Applications will be accepted throughout the year and reviewed two times (2) per year (March and September) until all available grant funds for the year have been allocated. Applicants will be notified by email within 30 days after the deadline.
2023 intake periods
Spring/Summer Events - Intake runs October 1 – February 28, 2023. Funding announcements will be made on or before March 31, 2023.
Fall/Winter Events - Intake runs April 1 - August 31, 2023. Funding announcements will be made on or before September 30, 2023
Program criteria
A festival or event is a temporary gathering of people to recognize and celebrate the arts, culture and/or historical attributes of Airdrie.
To be supported by this program, a festival or event must have the following characteristics:
Unique or special from everyday occurrences;
Builds and supports arts and culture;
Open and accessible to the public;
Free to the public to attend (can include minimal low cost programming, i.e. food trucks, face painting, etc.)
Have a minimum of 200 people in attendence;
Alignment with the social policy;
Located in Airdrie.
Additionally, the program encourages (but is not subject to) the following characteristics:
Events that are located within Downtown;
Outdoor events;
Partnerships with other groups and organizations.
Ineligible organizations and activities
Applications will not be accepted from the following types of organizations and events:
Political, religious or trade union organizations;
Degree and diploma granting educational institutes such as colleges and universities;
For-profit organizations;
Organizations that have an outstanding grant agreement with the City of Airdrie. Outstanding grant agreements may be caused by failure to submit a final grant report or having not yet met the deliverables of a previous grant agreement.
Applications will not be accepted for the following types of activities:
Festivals and events that are ticketed or have an entrance fee;
Festivals and events that are fundraisers;
Festivals and events that are private (members or invite-only) or not easily accessible to the general public;
Festivals or events that do not serve the citizens of Airdrie.
Not sure if you are eligible?
before completing your application to discuss your eligibility if you need more assistance. Applications deemed ineligible will not be assessed.
Performance measures
Attendance (attendees of over 200+)
Partnerships created (non-profits organizations, businesses and groups involved)
Long-term planning
Local involvement
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with attendees
Event grant decisions and approvals
Applications will be reviewed and assessed twice (2) per year. Agreements and final reporting guidelines will be provided to applicants who receive a grant.
Grant recipients will be required to enter into a standard grant agreement with the City of Airdrie, which includes:
Agreement for registered not-for-profit societies; or
Agreement for community event organizer/group that does not have Government of Alberta society status.
Organizations receiving a grant through the community event program will also be required to:
Acknowledge the City of Airdrie as a sponsor on their promotional materials;
Provide an event management plan (including an Emergency Response Plan, site map, budget, etc.);
Have a marketing plan targeting general Airdrie community;
Submit a final report upon completion of the festival or event.
Grant recipients will also be asked to submit a survey upon completion of the festival or event to help the City of Airdrie evaluate this program.
A formal review will be completed at the end of the funding year. Process improvements will be made based on measurement, feedback, learnings, and participant reporting.
For questions or concerns, please
2023 community grant recipients
The Community Event Grant supported five events for Intake 1 in 2023, with three new events and two up-and-coming events.
2023 Intake 1:
Airdrie Family Football Community Game - May 27
Pawz in the Park - July 22
Time Traveller’s Car Show - August 12
Summerfest - August 13
Windwood Festival - August 18, 20, 23, 25
2023 Intake 2:
Applications are OPEN! Stay tuned for the listed recipients.