Grants guide: value-in-kind support

What’s on offer

You can apply for:

• one-off venue hire
• multi-week (or multi-date) venue hire over one year
• multi-year reduced rates.

Key timings

Contact the community venues team as early as possible. Time is needed to confirm availability and assess your needs.

Grants open all year

Includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collaboration fund and quick response grants.

• Allow at least 2 business days for a response to your enquiry.
• Your proposed event must be at least 12 weeks after your first enquiry.

Grants open once yearly (July–September)

• Contact the team by mid-August to allow time to arrange a tentative booking.
• Your proposed hire date(s) must start from 1 January.

Step-by-step: what you need to do

1. Check your eligibility for the program you’re applying for
2. Visit the hireable indoor spaces page and choose a suitable venue
3. Submit a booking enquiry and request a quote
   • Note in the enquiry that you’re applying for a grant and include your application number.
4. Receive a tentative booking and fee quote
5. In your grant application, enter your booking reference, the value-in-kind amount requested (ex GST) and upload the quote.

What’s on offer

We have 8 landmark venues for hire (subject to availability), including spaces in:

• Sydney Town Hall
• Customs House
• Paddington Town Hall.

You can apply for:

• one-off hire
• multiple hires over the course of one year
• multi-year (up to 3 years).

Approved applicants may receive a 25% reduction on City of Sydney-owned equipment hire.

Key timings

Contact the landmark venues team early. Time is needed for planning, site visits and scheduling.

Grants open all year

Includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collaboration fund and quick response grants applicants.

• Allow at least 3 business days for a response to your enquiry.
• Your proposed event date must be at least 6 months after your first enquiry.

Grants open once yearly (July–September)

• Contact the team by mid-August.
• Proposed hire date must be after 1 March.

⚠️ Please note, if you contact the team within 3 business days of your grant closing date, we can’t guarantee the information you need will be provided to complete your application.

Step-by-step: what you need to do

1. Check your eligibility for the program you’re applying for
2. Identify a suitable space in one of our landmark venues in Sydney Town Hall, Paddington Town Hall or Customs House.
3. Submit a venue enquiry about availability and request a quote
   • Note in the enquiry that you’re applying for a grant in the ‘additional information’ section and include your application number.
4. Arrange a site visit to confirm our spaces are right for you
5. In your grant application, enter the value-in-kind amount requested (ex GST) and upload the quote and your correspondence with the landmark venues team
6. After your grant application is assessed, and you’ve been officially notified of the outcome from the grants team, the venues team will contact you, regardless of the result.

What’s on offer

We manage up to 1,500 banner poles across the city and urban locations in the local area. We provide value-in-kind banner pole hire to enhance our streetscape and raise the profile of cultural events, social issues and other activities.

Support may include reduced hire rates, subject to availability.

You can request:

• up to 150 banner poles
• for up to 2 weeks
• once a year.

Larger requests may be considered for significant events, depending on street banner availability.

Key timings

Contact the banners team early. Time is needed for planning, banner design and creation.

Your application must be submitted online at least 6 months before the banner campaign begins.

Grants open all year

Includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collaboration fund.

• Allow at least 2 business days for a response to your enquiry.
• Your proposed banner campaign must be at least 8 weeks from the time of booking.

Grants open once yearly (July–September)

• Contact us by mid-August to allow our banner team time to respond and work with you.
• Campaigns must start after 1 January.

Other essential information

• Banner bookings can only be made after you’ve received confirmation of a successful grant application
• Bookings open 6 months before installation
• Campaigns should take place within 12 months of your value-in-kind approval
• Poles cannot be held and are subject to availability at the time of booking

Step-by-step: what you need to do

1. Check your eligibility for the program you’re applying for
2. Enquire about availability and hiring costs and request a quote by contacting our street banners team: [email protected].
   • Note in the enquiry that you’re applying for a grant and include your application number.
3. In your grant application, enter the value of your value-in-kind request (ex GST), how many weeks you’re looking to hire the street banners and the number of poles you’ll need.