Festival funds seeks to support community

WITH the Beyond the Valley music festival set to take place for the second time in the region in December, organisers are introducing a community grant to benefit organisations and individuals.

Organisers at Untitled Group have launched a $50,000 community fund for everyone in the region to apply for.

With Hesse’s Barunah Plains Homestead now the festival’s permanent home, event planning coordinator Miranda Nicol said the program is about building a relationship with the community.

“We understand that as a festival, we have a large impact in the communities we hold our events in,” she said.

“We ideally want to make that a mutually beneficial relationship where we can support that community with the growth of 35,000 people coming through in a single day.

“There’s a lot of economic benefits of us having an event in smaller communities, you just have to look at other examples like Meredith with the community involvement and becoming part of that culture.”

The funding pool will be allocated via two $10,000 grants, as well as four of $5000, and 10 at $1000.

This year’s festival will mark the first time Untitled Group staff have offered the community grant for Beyond the Valley, having debuted the program with sister event Pitch Music Festival held near the Grampians earlier this year.

Ms Nicol said the funding brought many benefits to the region.

“We had some great community groups see some really cool initiatives come to life,” she said.

“The main group who saw funding was the Moyston Progress Association. We were able to restore their power facilities at a barbecue, tourist-y area on the way to the Grampians.

“There was also more equipment for the Ararat Swim Club, power tools for the Pomonal Men’s Shed. We also donated to the Chinese Heritage Cemetery in Ararat to restore some of the graves there.”

Applications close Sunday 10 December at 8pm and can be submitted through the festival’s website.