Invercargill City Centre Activation Programme

Great South and Invercargill City Council are working on a City Centre Activation Programme, with the intention to create a vibrant urban atmosphere and increase visitation to the Invercargill City Centre.

The programme includes a range of different activation types, some of which are led and delivered by Great South, and others which are delivered in partnership with various community groups and event organisers. Some examples of Great South-Led activations include the popular Night Food Market series on Don Street and the Buskers on Esk activation. Examples of partnership activations that the programme has supported recently include Waitangi Day Esk Fest and St. Patrick’s Day Family Gala, run by Radio Southland and GreenLight Innovations, respectively.

The City Centre Activation Programme is funded by a targeted rate collected by Invercargill City Council from City Centre land and building owners. In certain situations, it is mutually beneficial to partner with other community funding organisations such as the Invercargill Licensing Trust to extend the scope of activations beyond what can be achieved alone, and so some additional funding is gathered through these partnerships. Vendor fees at the programme’s events are another income stream which extend the scope of what can be delivered for the public and City Centre stakeholders.

How You Can Get Involved

  • If you have an event or activation that aligns with the goals of the City Centre Activation Programme, we would love to hear from you!
  • A key goal for the programme is to support the development of events and activations in the City Centre, whether they are part of the programme or not. The second part of this goal is to support the development and upskilling of local event organisers to be able to expand the scope of the programme far beyond what is possible with the currently available funding and human resources.
  • This event toolkit is part of that goal, and we would hope that the guidance provided here could help local event organisers to deliver excellent events and activations in the City Centre without any further input.

Ways we can assist if you partner with the City Centre Activation Programme:

  • Event concept development and scaling-up
  • Road closures for public events
  • Communication to affected parties in the City Centre
  • Event health and safety planning
  • Marketing and promotion
  • Equipment loan
  • Sourcing of funding

Monthly City Centre Update Newsletter

  • The main communication channel for the City Centre Activation Programme is the monthly City Centre Update email newsletter.
  • This newsletter is targeted at City Centre businesses and stakeholders, and includes important news about upcoming and recent activations and happenings, opportunities for collaboration, and more.
  • This is one of the tools in our arsenal for communication with affected parties.
  • Join the mailing list.
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