The South West is the most popular regional tourist destination in Western Australia. 
Events help put the South West region on the map
They encourage people to visit the region and discover what local communities have to offer, enticing the same visitors to return with family and friends to explore the region at more depth.
The ability of events to create vibrant communities people want to visit is one of the reasons the South West Development Commission continues to run the South West Events Program.
The grants program provides valuable financial assistance to help community groups - many of which are staffed by volunteers - stage festivals, concerts and sports competitions.
The grants enable volunteers to run events, which provide benefits to local communities, while promoting the region as an attractive tourist destination. It is this sort of volunteerism that helps to make the region a great place to live.
The Commission will help events - and the region - to shine once again through this year's South West Events Program.
The program, which closed to applications on October 25, will see funding allocated to help stage events taking place in the region in 2011.
This year we have even more funds to allocate. This came about when the Commission's board approved a $30,000 increase to the funding pool, bringing the amount available up to $100,000.
Increasing the program's funding was an exciting move in line with the Commission's refreshed focus on tourism development in the region, but without the incredible support of volunteers the events we fund would not take place. As a Commission we are really pleased to be able to help all sorts of voluntary groups in the South West get their events up and running.
By the close of the funding round on Monday October 25, a total of 75 applications for funding through the South West Events Program had been received, surpassing the previous record of 73 set in 2009.
This was a tremendous response and we look forward to announcing the grants recipients next month.
Don Punch
South West Development Commission CEO
November 2010
