A total of £60,000 has been awarded to support three fantastic events in East Lothian this year, as part of economic recovery funding.
Fringe by the Sea, the Lammermuir Festival, and Gosford Winter Wonderland will each receive £20k from the Local Authority COVID-19 Economic Recovery Fund (LA-CER) 2022/23 to support events this year.
LA-CER is the Scottish Government’s fund set up to address local economic recovery. The funds have been made available to support projects that can rebuild consumer confidence and stimulate demand and economic activity. East Lothian Council’s Signature Tourism Events Grant was the first part of the fund to be utilised locally.
Three new business grants are now open for applications; the New Business Support Grant, Business Implementation Grant, and the Business Growth and Sustainability Grant.
The New Business Support Grant has a maximum award of £1k and applies to newly self-employed individuals and newly incorporated companies. The Business Growth and Sustainability Grant can award between £5k and 20k per applicant, and the Business Implementation Grant is available up to £5k. All three grants can be used for the purchase of new equipment, refurbishing facilities, expansion or relocation within East Lothian, and IT or professional services. They all have different eligibility criteria. Full details are on our website
Councillor John McMillan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Environment, Economic Development and Tourism, said: “As we continue to recover from the pandemic, I am absolutely delighted to see a packed programme of events return to East Lothian this year. These are important to our local communities and tourism alike and will all help to boost the local economy and reinforce the message that East Lothian is back open for business. Well done to the Lammermuir Festival, Fringe by the Sea and Rogue Village for their successful applications for these significant grants. I hope to attend all three events and wish them huge success!
“The new grants for supporting local businesses and self-employed people are hugely important, too, in helping a whole range of local industry to grow and thrive. I would encourage anyone operating a business in East Lothian to check the criteria and contact the team for advice on applying.”
Fringe by the Sea Festival Director Rory Steel said: “With a very busy summer on the horizon, Fringe by the Sea and its fantastically diverse 200+ events has a lot to compete with across Scotland. We have been determined to keep ticket prices down and, to do so, we need to drive attendances higher than ever before. The support we have received from East Lothian Council’s LA-CER fund has been directly invested into marketing Fringe By The Sea to new audiences with the aim of bringing them to enjoy our programme of music, comedy, kids’ shows and literature, as well as the many other attractions our beautiful corner of Scotland has to offer at the festival and beyond.”
James Waters, Co-Director of the Lammermuir Festival, said: "We are presenting our largest and most ambitious programme this year. It is a very challenging climate for audiences and we could not be more grateful to East Lothian Council for supporting us through the LA-CER fund. This will enable us to continue with our core mission which is to promote East Lothian nationally as a superb destination by presenting classical music of true international standard."
Fringe by the Sea takes place in and around North Berwick from 5-14th August and features a packed programme of music, comedy, chat and much more – for all ages.
The Lammermuir Festival returns to East Lothian from 8-19 September with a rich and ambitious programme of beautiful music in beautiful places.
Gosford Winter Wonderland event details will be available nearer the time on their website.
For further information on the three business support grant programmes, email supportgrants@eastlothian.gov.uk