By Tyler Wright
The Belgrave Lantern Festival has been given a funding boost from Yarra Ranges Council, with $50,000 injected into the event over the next four years as part of the council’s partnership grant program.
Grant recipients in the 2023-27 Creative Communities stream were announced on Tuesday 28 March, with the lantern festival receiving $12,500 each year.
Festival organiser Jeremy Angerson said the council has continued to be a “real ally” for the community by supporting the annual event, which sees lanterns line the streets and businesses buzzing for a celebration of the winter solstice.
“It allows for things like lantern making workshops…and there’s a provision in there for local performers to be able to perform in different pop up precincts throughout the township,” Mr Angerson said.
“There’ll be some money there to be able to pay for a special lantern for the CFA this year as well, and for stages in AV and lighting and MCs…
“Everything is poured back into the event and thankfully, we’ve got ongoing partners like Bendigo Bank that provide some top up funding for the event as well.”
Mr Angerson said the festival is an “iconic” and “beloved” event not just for locals, but also for visitors.
“We had huge swell of numbers come up from the cities and using public transport to get to [last] year’s event…it was one of the biggest ones in memory, between 13 thousand and 16 thousand people came,” Mr Angerson said.
“We’ve had people come from Mildura, Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, other festivals check us out as well that put on live events within their own communities.”
2023’s festival – set to be held on Saturday 24 June from 5pm to 8pm – will see street performances, circus arts belly dancers, market stalls and workshops scattered around the town.
Inspiro will also open up its facilties and provide a new starting point for the lantern parade.
“Belgrave Arcade is going to be reactivated yet again…you might see some new activities in Blacksmith’s Way because there’s a new mural arts project that’s being rolled out in the laneway,” Mr Angerson said.
“We’re just hoping, fingers crossed, to be able to work again with the FReeZA committee, Defrosted Events in at council with their amazing new stage that they put on last year, and hoping to get those crews back to have a great live stage up in Hayes car park,” he said.
“We keep the streets safe through our traffic and transport protocols, so the whole of the township is quarantined for entertainment during those hours, which is just great, so we’re going to have a great creative party.”
Yarra Ranges Council received 25 applications for the Creative Communities grants for the 2023-2027 period, alongside 27 applications for the Connected and Healthy Communities grants.
18 and 22 respective organisations were approved for consecutive yearly payments of varying amounts, including the Foothills Festival in Upwey and the Dandenong Ranges Emergency Relief Service (DRERS).
An independent panel made the recommendations, tallying $558,000 for year one and a total of $2.2 million over the four years, an annual increase of $59,500 to better address the needs of the organisations.
In an online statement, Yarra Ranges Mayor, Jim Child, said the partnership funding supports programs that run long-term and have a significant benefit to the community.
“The events and services we’ve been able to fund through our Partnership Grants are highlights of the cultural calendar in the Yarra Ranges, or deliver incredible and measurable support for community members,” the mayor said.
“Annual events that draw people in their thousands, programs to help vulnerable people in our community and ideas that improve this beautiful area we live in – the funding available is significant, because the programs we fund deliver far more than their dollar amount back to our community. This is through volunteer time and leveraging other funds.
“I’m so glad to see this year’s list include a number of first-time recipients and so many of these are events and project that are far reaching because, we want everyone to benefit from the fantastic cultural opportunities on our doorstep, of which there are many.”
