Background and Rationale
The Tweed has a diversity of distinct annual festivals and special events. With this high level of cultural activity comes an increasing acknowledgment and awareness of the key role Cultural Tourism plays in the Region’s economic revitalisation. Council has recently provided a forum and agenda to discuss the opportunities that lie before us.

The Festivals and Events two-year program will add new and innovative artistic components to our existing annual calendar of events, as well as develop a strategic campaign that will identify and promote the collective appeal of these cultural events. This umbrella campaign will reach tourism markets previously inaccessible to event organisers, who individually lack the funding and human resources to expand their disparate promotional activities.
The program comprises two strategic areas:
• Audience Development
• Calendar of Events
The program contains a potent balance of imported and local events choreographed as a continual multi-disciplinary showcase for the visual interpretations and tangible outcomes evolving under the umbrella of the Fifth City of the Arts.

Objective
To invigorate and maximise the profile, participation, economic viability and artistic merit of our annual calendar of events.