What you need to know
The National Events Programme is one of EventScotland's core funds. The fund is designed to help deliver the National Events Strategy, Scotland The Perfect Stage. The fund also supports the strategic development of events. It has been created to support live public facing sporting and cultural events. These must take place outwith the local authority areas of Edinburgh and Glasgow. They must also drive domestic tourism within Scotland.
Positive impact
The National Events Programme is designed to support innovative new projects and activity at events. These elements will need to meet the programme criteria. Awards of between £5,000 and £25,000 are available to events. Events will need to align with the key impact areas outlined in our National Events Strategy. They must also have delivery budgets of more than £20,000 and attract over 1,000 in-person attendees. Finally, they must showcase Scotland’s key event and tourism assets.
Events are assessed on their merits. The EventScotland team will look at ways the event will create a positive impact for the host region and Scotland as a whole. Events are assessed on their viability and event management experience as well as the five impact areas:
- economic, tourism and business
- brand, identity and reputation
- media and profile
- social and cultural
- sustainability
An event's ability to deliver against these impacts will determine any EventScotland offer.
Download guidance and documents
National Events Programme application guidelines.
How to apply
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1
Read the guidance
Applicants were asked to download and read the programme criteria and guidelines from this page. They were asked to consider whether their event may be eligible for support through this programme.
This document was last updated in March 2024. This funding round was for events that will be taking place between August to December 2024 (inclusive) only. Applications closed at 12 noon on Wednesday 24 April 2024.
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2
Submit an enquiry
Applying for funding from EventScotland was a two-step process. Applicants were asked to submit a funding enquiry before any application to the fund could be made.
Access to complete a full application via the online EventScotland funding portal was granted once an enquiry was reviewed and an event was deemed eligible for consideration under this programme.
A member of the EventScotland team would then share further details on the process after review of an enquiry.
Please note that there would have been no guarantee of funding after completion of the application process. Outcomes would be shared with applicants in due course.
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3
Submit your application
After an applicant had submitted an enquiry and this was reviewed by EventScotland, if their event is eligible for consideration for funding, applicants would be sent a link and further details on how to apply online.
Applicants were asked to ensure they submitted enquiries in plenty of time before the deadline to allow for subsequent completion of the online application process.
The round 51 deadline for submission of applications online via the EventScotland Funding Portal closed at 12pm on Wednesday 24 April 2024.
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4
Meet the deadline
Round 51 for applications closed at 12 noon on Wednesday 24 April 2024. This round was for events that will be taking place between 1 August to 31 December 2024 (inclusive).