Community Event Grant

The intake period for 2024 is now closed. Thank you to all the applicants, we appreciate your interest and passion for community enrichment.

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 total amount allocated for the 2024 Community Event Grant is $40,000  and has been fully disbursed  for the year. Congratulations to all the event organizer for an exciting and successful event season.  

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 connection.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

• Spring/Summer Events - Intake runs October 1 – February 29, 2024. Funding announcements will be made on or before March 31, 2024.
• Fall/Winter Events - Intake runs April 1 - August 31, 2024. Funding announcements will be made on or before September 30, 2024.

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 Send us a message