Dundee's first ever Festive Fund has supported 23 community Christmas celebrations.
Launched earlier this year the £50,000 fund aimed to support Christmas activities and events in communities across the city run by community groups and cultural organisations.
John Alexander leader of Dundee City Council said: “It’s fair to say that the Festive Fund has been a success with communities, helping to support Christmas activities in communities that hadn’t previously had any.
“The high standard, creativity and imagination of the applications gave us a real challenge deciding how best to use the fund.
“Our aim was to get as many groups and organisations as possible to tap into the funding so that it truly represented a Dundee Christmas in every one of our communities while at the same time being able to improve the city centre offering.
“Clearly there is an expectation that each celebration will be delivered following the Coronavirus restrictions in place at the time, so that we can have not only a happy but a healthy Christmas.”
Grants of between £500 and £8000 were on offer with applicants expected to meet at least one third of the cost of the event in cash through other grants and/or fees.
Successful applications included:
• A 'Creative Christmas Challenge' for the Bottom of the Hill Focus Group who will work with local residents to create themed community artwork to be installed between Bonnethill and Tulloch Courts;
• helping Fintry Community Council to bring some Christmas cheer to the area by decorating the village green;
• supporting Scrapantics to provide materials to hundreds of households across the city that will enable them to create bright window displays to celebrate the festive season, and then create a community gallery of these in both the Central Library and online; and
• Christmas trees and lights in various communities.
Activities will be taking place from this week until Monday January 4, 2021.
Applications were assessed by officers from Dundee City Council and a community representative.
The fund’s launch followed a wide-ranging review of Christmas provision across the city which will also see improvements to the city centre festive decorations and lights.
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
