City of Launceston events panel faced with high quality and quantity of requests

A representative from Tasmanian Turf Club brought concerns to the council during public question time over the grant, or lack of one, for the club.

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The club applied for event sponsorship for the Ladbrokes Launceston Cup and Carnival.

Vice chairperson for the club, Brent Crawford, said the club's one profitable day was the cup which used the sponsorship to run the event.

"The Launceston Cup is Tasmania's premier horse race and social event," he said.

"The profit from the cup is put back into the club, enabling us to run another 25 race meetings."

Mr Crawford said the event supported tourism, economics, and community spirit.

"We believe we hit all aspects," he said, referring to the criteria for sponsorship assessment.

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The club applied for Major Signature Event Sponsorship and scored 73 per cent on the assessment. While they had requested $50,000, they were assessed $20,000. However, they did not receive any funds.

The club was flagged as an event and encouraged to apply for Major Event Sponsorship Round 2 for 2023-24.

Events Sponsorship Assessment Panel chair councillor Lindi McMahon said there was a wide breadth of applicants.

"The grants and sponsorship funding requests were at an extremely high standard," she said.

"While it is wonderful if we could give everyone funding, unfortunately, we are not able to do that."

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Cr McMahon said the assessments took more than seven hours to complete.

"This is a reflection of the quality and quantity of the applications, and due to the number of applications, some have missed out on being signature events that have previously been in this space," she said.

"There is an opportunity for them to reapply for the funding each year."

Councillors also supported a $50,000 Special Event Sponsorship for The Corrs - Down Under.

Cr McMahon said it was welcome support since Launceston rarely had events of this calibre.

Some signature events which missed out on funding included RSPCA Million Paws Walk and Brixhibition Launceston.

These events have also been flagged to apply for Small Event Sponsorship Round 2 2023-24.

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