Event Support
Event Support
Events are a significant demand driver for visitation to our region. While the region hosts a number of significant major events, smaller events play an important role in brand awareness and community health and wellbeing. GORRT play an active role in supporting events in the region in promotion and providing support for funding submissions.
Event promotion
All event organisers are encouraged to create a FREE event listing on the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW). By doing this, your event will be promoted on a number of distributor websites, including www.visitvictoria.com, our regional website www.visitgreatoceanroad.org.au, and your relevant destination website on our consumer platform. Instructions for listing your event on ATDW can be found HERE.
Event Marketing Package
GORRT can provide additional promotion for events on our websites, in EDMs and on our social media channels. Details on this package can be found HERE.
Signature regional events will be considered for sponsorship by GORRT, which provides a full in-kind subsidy of the cost of the Event marketing Package. You can submit your Expression of Interest for sponsorship HERE. Note that sponsorship is not provided to all events, but those that are regionally or locally significant and provide a positive impact on the regional or local visitor economy.
Events GORRT have sponsored in recent years include:
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- Great Ocean Road Running Festival
- Port Fairy Folk Festival
- Lorne Sculpture Biennale
- Apollo Bay Seafood Festival
- WinterWild
- Solstice Search Party
- Cray Fest
- Jericho Cup
- Warrnambool May Racing Carnival
- Port Fairy Jazz Festival
- Port Fairy Spring Music Festival
- Lisa Gorman + Mirka Mora
- Port Fairy Winter Weekends
- Hooked on Portland
Event Funding & Support
Council support
All event organisers should engage with their councils. Public events may attract permit or licensing fees, depending on their location, and some may require permits from multiple agencies, for example council + Parks Victoria or the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority.
Your council events department will be able to provide advice on permits and also on council-run community event grants and funding programs. Each council’s event policy and program are different and funding tends to be provided on an annual basis, so it is important to engage with council early, and be aware of community event funding program dates.
Regional Events Fund
The State Government provides funding support to regional events through a competitive grant program administered by Visit Victoria.
There are 3 funding streams:
- Stream 1 – Regional Event Acquisition – Funding of up to $1 million to support the attraction of one-off or ongoing major events
- Stream 2 – Event Growth and Development – Funding up to $500,000 to grow the economic impact of medium to large-scale events
- Stream 3 – Funding up to $50,000 to build capability and support the marketing and operations of events that attract intrastate or interstate visitors
Details of the Regional Events Fund funding streams, guidelines, key dates and application links can be found HERE.
It is a criteria of all regional events fund applicants to engage with their Regional Tourism Board for assistance determining the strength of your proposal and advise on the suitable funding stream. A letter of support from your Regional Tourism Board is also a requirement for it to be assessed.
Since 2021, the Regional Events Fund has supported the following events in the Great Ocean Road Region:
- Great Ocean Road Running Festival 2021
- Koroit Irish Festival 2022
- Great Ocean Road Running Festival 2022
- WinterWild 2022
- Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo 2022
- Koroit Irish Festival 2023
- Great Ocean Road Running Festival 2023
- Longboard Surf Classic 2023
- Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo 2023
- Lisa Gorman & Mirka Mora – Warrnambool Art Gallery 2023-2024
- Great Ocean Road Running Festival 2024
- Amy’s Great Ocean Road Gran Fondo 2024
Regional Events Fund Support Letter Request Form
Events seeking Regional Events Fund Support should complete and submit the form below. Once submitted you will be contacted by someone from GORRT to discuss your event and funding submission and a support letter will be provided based on the outcome of this discussion and confirmation of intent to proceed with your application.