VIC Regional Events Fund – Round 5

  • Round 5 applications open:  until 24 September 2025
  • Grants: up to $500,000

The Regional Events Fund supports events that bring thousands of visitors to regional Victoria, delivering economic impact, creating jobs, and supporting local business.

The Fund backs festivals, culinary, sporting and cultural events that showcase the vibrancy of Victoria’s regions.

Regional events highlight the incredible tourism offerings available throughout the state and bolster Victoria’s reputations as a world-class events destination.

Support is available across several streams.

Stream 2 – Event Growth and Development
Funding of up to $500,000 to grow the economic impact of medium to large-scale events.

Stream 3 – Event Industry Support
Funding of up to $50,000 to build capability and support the marketing and operations of events that attract intrastate or interstate visitors.

Key Requirements

The eligible applicant must meet the main criteria include:

Stream 2: Event Growth and Development (EGD)

  • Events that can demonstrate plans to achieve economic impact
  • Existing events that have demonstrated economic impact growth
  • Existing events that have demonstrated innovation in delivery and/or content
  • Medium to large scale events
  • Capacity to attract intrastate and interstate visitation
  • Events of national, state or regional significance.
  • Be able to contribute 50% of operational budget
  • Be able to contribute 75% of event resource budget

Stream 3: Event Industry Support (EIS)

  • have the capacity to attract intrastate and interstate visitation
  • are of state or regional significance
  • deliver strong benefits to the host region’s community
  • Investment will generate an audience commensurate with funding request
  • Be able to contribute 50% of operational budget
  • Be able to contribute 75% of event resource budget

Ineligible events

The REF will not allocate funding to support:

  • Community events;
  • Agricultural/country shows/farmers markets;
  • Charity fundraising events;
  • Regional racing carnivals;
  • Business events and conferences, including trade/exhibitor shows;
  • Events with religious ceremony or celebration as the principal focus such as Easter or Christmas celebrations; and
  • Community public holiday celebrations

What is eligible for funding?

Support will be considered for events that:

• can deliver economic impact and priority will be given to events held over more than one day;

• drive visitation from outside the local area (intrastate/ interstate);

• provide a benefit to the host city’s community and/or showcase homegrown events;

• demonstrate growth and event innovation;

• align with State and regional tourism brands and attributes;

• align with broader government priorities;

• show financial support beyond the State Government including, but not limited to, local government;

• demonstrate financial sustainability and management capacity;

• are positioned and staged to derive greatest benefit (outside of holiday periods or long weekends);

• appropriately showcase and celebrate Victorian First Nations culture;

• rebuild tourism in regions impacted by natural disasters or designated areas of priority;

• demonstrate consideration of local supply chains and showcase Victorian produce; and

• demonstrate considerations to minimise waste and negative environmental impacts and promote sustainability

What companies are eligible for funding?

Eligible Applicants

Applications will be considered from:

• Private sector organisations  (where projects will deliver a  clear public benefit);

• Victorian Local Government Authorities;

• Regional Tourism Boards (RTB) and Visitor Economy Partnerships (VEP);

• Not for profit organisations,  including sporting, cultural and community groups that are an incorporated body, cooperative

or association; or

• Joint proponents/consortia applications (identifying the consortia lead agency for funding).

Funded organisations must:

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN); and

• have a minimum of $20 million public liability insurance and other relevant insurance cover

Is this grant competitive or entitlement based?

Competitive. Your application will be assessed among other applications by a judging panel.

How can I increase my chances of winning this grant?

By engaging an accredited government grants consultant, such as Avant Group.

Competitive grants often require significant business case development and project analysis to support the application, this may include detailed presentations supporting the project’s merit, projected sales, cost-benefit analysis and more.

As part of your engagement with Avant Group, your account manager will assess the required documents and will provide the following as needed to support your grant submission.

Grant application writeup including a detailed presentation illustrating how the grant funding will contribute to your project, how the funding will contribute to the project’s budget, a project milestone plan, delivery timeline, impact on employment if applicable and a breakdown of the management and leadership team for the project

  • Industry analysis presentation
  • Competitor Analysis Presentation
  • Marketing and Sales Analysis Presentation
  • 3-5 year Cashflow Forecast
  • 3-5 year Balance Sheet Forecast
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis of Grant Funding
  • End-to-end grant application including information collating, analysis and application writing
  • CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) cost-benefit analysis
  • Stakeholder relations and Risk Mitigation Plans
  • Any other relevant forecasting that will support your application

How can I get help with my application? Or know if I’m likely to win funding?

Avant Group offers a no-obligation assessment of your eligibility for funding and will assess your likelihood of a successful grant application.