Events Fund

The 2026-2027 Events Fund is for people looking to organise events that benefit the community. The fund is open to both commercial and community-level events. It supports events that are committed to environmental sustainability, economic impact, event diversity, and positive community benefits. 

The 2026-2027 Events Fund has a total pool of $250,000, reflecting the funding allocation set in the QLDC Annual Plan.

A panel of councillors assessed the applications in May, with final decisions approved by Full Council at the 25 June 2026 meeting. All applicants will be notified of the outcome by 1 July.

Please see a list of recipients for the Events Fund 2026-2027 and fund guidelines below:

Applications for this funding round took place during 1-30 April 2026 through the SmartyGrants platform

Our 2025-2026 events funding recipients were:

$30,000 and over

• Queenstown Marathon $35,000

Under $30,000

• Arrowtown Autumn Festival $25,000

• Challenge Wānaka $25,000

• Ripe – Wānaka Wine and Food Festival $25,000

• Warbirds Over Wānaka $25,000

• Motatapu $20,000

• Wānaka A & P Show $20,000

• Global Games $16,000

• Lake Hayes A & P Show $15,000

• Michael Hill International Violin $12,000

• Central Lakes Polyfest $11,000

• Aspiring Conversations $10,000

• Natural Selection Bike Aotearoa $10,000

• New Zealand Open $10,000

• Queenstown Multicultural Festival $8,000

• Gin Festival Arrowtown $8,000

• New Zealand Mountain Film Festival $7,000

• Wao Summit $5,000

We continue to work in partnership with our sustainability and climate action teams to develop and support events' sustainability measures.