Almost $300,000 allocated as part of the City of Bunbury’s Grant Program

Almost $300,000 have been allocated as part of the City of Bunbury’s Grant Program, with returning favourites and a variety of new events set to bolster the City’s events calendar.

The first round of the grants were announced last week, with a total of $272,850 allocated to 34 applicants.

The City said a revamp of the 2022 Grant Program provided opportunities for more community-led initiatives alongside events the City had become renowned for, promoting Bunbury as a place to live, visit and invest — with applications categorised under Community Connect, Neighbourhood Connect, Signature Events and Achievement.

Bunbury Mayor Jaysen Miguel said the City changed the grant program to try to continue to improve the process.

“Some of the events are returning and have been running for many years, and some things that have been running previously but had to be missed for COVID,” Mr Miguel said.

“We are also welcoming some new events as well — some smaller ones and some bigger ones — and it is very exciting to see these new things coming along and we are always happy to support them.”

Returning events include the Lost & Found Festival, Tree Street Art Safari, Bunbury Summer School, the Noongar Basketball Carnival, Bunbury Fringe and CinefestOZ.

Among the new events were the Smart 2 Ask Community Expo, an ExSports Gaming Expo and the Lego inspired Bricktopia.

A St Patrick’s Day Festival also made a successful application, which the City said it expected to be a popular addition to Bunbury’s events calendar.

The second round of funding for the Community Connect and Signature events categories will open in November 2022.