The City of Lawrence is now accepting applications for the Unmistakable Events grant program, this year without the advisory board that previously made grant recommendations.
The program is funded through the transient guest tax, a special sales tax that applies to hotel stays.
The grant program is designed “to help support events that enhance Lawrence’s unique identity” and encourage tourism, according to a city news release. The city will have $150,000 total to divide among community events.
The city commission originally adopted a resolution to create the Transient Guest Tax Grant Program Advisory Board in February 2016. The current commission voted in May to dissolve the board, as well as some other boards and commissions. City Manager Craig Owens told commissioners last year that the city was trying to “unhitch specific allocation of a small portion of the city’s budget from the policy advisory boards and commissions.” He said he was suggesting that those dollars get spent “like the rest of our city dollars.”
Without the TGT advisory board, “Grant application review will be conducted with the assistance of a diverse ad hoc volunteer committee of seven, comprising members from the Cultural Arts Commission and Parks and Recreation Advisory Boards as well as individuals with background in arts and culture, tourism, and economic development,” according to the city’s website.
The city will hold a virtual info meeting for grant applicants from 2 to 3 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22. One info session was already held and is available via the city’s YouTube page at this link. Register for Friday’s meeting at this link.
Applications will be open through 11 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11. See criteria and a scoring rubric and complete the application at lawrenceks.org/lprd/tgt-grants/.
The ad hoc committee will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3 to discuss event scores and consider recommendations to advance to the city commission. The commissioners will then consider the recommendations during their Tuesday, Jan. 7 meeting.
The city’s website as of Sunday did not list the members of the ad hoc committee, nor a location for the meeting. TGT advisory board meetings were livestreamed, and it was also unclear whether the ad hoc committee’s meeting would be streamed.
If you have questions or need more information about the grant program, contact Porter Arneill at 785-832-3449 or parneill@lawrence.org.
The city’s Community Arts Grant program’s application period will be open from Dec. 30 through Feb. 3.
Here are the TGT grants that were approved for 2024:
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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