Skateboarding and Afro-Cuban festival amongst Council grant recipients
Date published: 25 May 2023
Skateboarding, polocrosse and Afro-Cuban dance are just some of the events boosted with grants from Townsville City Council, following a vote at this week’s Ordinary Council meeting.
Community and Cultural Development Committee chairperson Anne-Maree Greaney said the grants are part of more than $800,000 provided by Council to local community organisations in the current financial year.
“These community organisations have demonstrated that they will make an incredibly positive contribution to Townsville and Council is happy to support them with grants.”
Sporting events featured heavily in the successful grants this month with a $10,000 grant awarded to help run the 2023 Josh Solomon Cup, Townsville’s only annual skateboarding competition which serves as an official qualifier for the 2023 Nationals to be held in Mackay.
Running from 23 - 25 June and named after Townsville skateboarding legend Josh Solomon, this Australian Skateboarding Federations event will welcome around 730 participants and create a welcome boost to the local economy.
Grants were also awarded to Townsville Karting Club ($20,545) to help host the 2023 Queensland State Championships and Far Northern Zone Polocrosse ($563.25) to host a coaching school.
Northern Monsoons Volleyball also benefited from Council support with $3,120 cash and $1309 venue hire free waiver to host the North Queensland Cup and the Filipino Australian Association of North Queensland received $2,272.73 to host the 2023 Friendship Cup (basketball and volleyball).
The arts were also well represented with a $23,000 grant awarded to Afrekete Inc to run the Afrekete Afro-Cuban Festival, which includes dance workshops at William Ross State High School. Students will learn aspects of Afro-Cuban culture through dance workshops and perform at the opening of the inaugural Afro-Cuban Dance Music and Culture festival on the weekend of 4-6 August.
The Ulysses Dancers were also successful in receiving a grant for $12,573.59 to assist with the costs of production of their annual main stage season for 2023, "Short & Sweet". This is a collaborative project between seven local emerging and experienced choreographers and 35 local dancers.
The Kerala Association of Townsville also received $3,111.23 for the New Year Festival of Kerala, India.
“Council’s goal is to grow a sustainable city where people can actively engage in arts, sports, events and recreational activities.
“As a council we promote and advocate for our city by facilitating and enabling groups to come together.”
Visit Council’s Grants and Partnerships page for information on grants and partnerships available to community groups.
