The Bend Cultural Tourism Commission, a Visit Bend Project overseeing the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund (BCTF), announces the opening of its online grant applications. The complete application is due March 7, 2024 at 5 p.m. The awarded funds will help local organizations leverage marketing resources to attract more cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months. Funding begins July 1, 2024.
Guidelines and a list of past grantees are available at BCTF website. A pre-application is required before the applicant can move forward with a full application. The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund Commission will make its decisions, which it then recommends to the Visit Bend Board of Directors for approval in May. The BCTF funds projects between September 2024 and June 2025.
“From the BendFilm Festival and Vámonos Outside Latinx Outdoor Film Festival to ScaleHouse’s Bend Design Conference and the Greenhouse Cabaret’s shoulder season performances, some of the most popular events in Bend are among grantees of this program,” said Nate Wyeth, VP of Marketing + Communications at Visit Bend. “The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund is part and parcel of Visit Bend’s strategy to bring visitors here during off-peak times in order to support our tourism partners as well as our incredible, growing arts and culture scene here in Bend.”
In 2023, the fund awarded 15 grants, a total of $400,000, helping local organizations leverage marketing resources to attract more cultural tourists during the shoulder seasons and winter months.
“I have Bend Cultural Tourism Fund to thank for the opportunity they have given High Desert Music Collective us to help build HomeGrown Music festival,” said Scottie “The Box Kid” McClelland, Creative Director, High Desert Music Collective. “Without this support it is difficult to imagine it coming together like it has. The local musicians that take part in it are extremely grateful for the experience and we hope to continue to work with BCTF to build HomeGrown Music festival into an annual event that brings in people all around Oregon to witness the wide ranging musical talent this town has to offer.”
The Bend Cultural Tourism Fund, now in its ninth year, invests in cultural activities that draw visitors from beyond a 50-mile radius, benefiting the local economy and community, funding new activities through the Catalyst Grant program (intended to support the bold ideas that aren’t yet fully developed, but can demonstrate extraordinary potential for increasing Bend’s off-season cultural tourists), as well as long-standing cultural traditions via the Marketing Grant program (intended to support high-quality cultural tourism activities that demonstrate a clear and measurable economic benefit in Bend). Since its inception in 2015, the BCTF has awarded $2,032,105 for 102 projects. For a full list of past projects and funding amounts, visit the BCTF website here.
This article appears in Source Weekly January 18, 2024.
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