Uptown Grant Program

• Uptown Grant Program Guidelines Round 3 – New Applicants (PDF 3.7MB)
• Uptown Grant Program Guidelines Round 3 – Previous Recipients (PDF 3.25MB)

• Event Plan (DOCX 60.11KB)
• Budget - New Applicants (XLSX 162.32KB)
• Budget - Previous Recipients (XLSX 162.66KB)
• Risk Management Plan (XLSX 89.69KB)

• Appendix B Sample Progress Report (PDF 74.38KB)
• Appendix C Sample Acquittal Report (PDF 68.23KB)

The Uptown District Acceleration Program is designed to fast-track the formation of local business communities and facilitate the growth of their districts into vibrant going-out hubs in line with the NSW Government’s 24-Hour Economy Strategy. (See page 3 within the Program Guidelines).

The Uptown Grant Program (the Program) aims to enable the development of districts across Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Lower Hunter and Greater Newcastle, and Illawarra-Shoalhaven into unique going out destinations by supporting formally aligned groups of businesses in a local area (District Teams) to collectively work on enhancing their district’s offering and building consumer engagement with their district. (See page 5 within the Program Guidelines).

Districts are a geographically distinct micro-area (e.g., a high street or block of streets) that have a unique identity and diverse cultural and entertainment offerings across multiple venues within walking or biking distance. (See page 6 within the Program Guidelines).

A District Team is an incorporated entity with membership that consists of representatives from five or more local businesses that are aligned under a unified identity as a means of engaging residents, visitors, and collaborators to a district.

Members of the District Team are formally registered in the incorporated entity. Members may come from various sectors to serve the community around them with a range of amenities and services, such as accommodation, arts and culture, tourism, hospitality, live performance, retail and sport. (See page 6 within the Program Guidelines).

Download the booklet of the Uptown Grant Program Round 2 recipients for examples of District Teams.

Round 3 of the Uptown Grant Program will provide the following funding opportunities:

• New Applicants – from $100,000 (excl. GST) to $200,000 (excl. GST) of seed funding to eligible District Teams to coordinate their district and for consumer engagement.
• Previous Recipients – from $50,000 (excl. GST) to $100,000 (excl. GST) of funding for previous Uptown Grant Program recipients that are working to self-sustainability and growing consumer engagement.
  • Districts that have already received two years of Uptown Grant Program funding will be required to co-contribute a minimum of 20% of the requested funding amount as additional funding.

(See page 3 within the Program Guidelines).

Projects must be completed by 30 June 2026.

Projects can start from 1 June 2025.

Please note that project costs incurred before the approved project start date are ineligible for funding.

The Program was developed by the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner (O24HEC) and is administered by Create NSW, both within the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport (DCITHS).

District Teams must be or provide evidence of becoming one of the following entities to apply:

• Incorporated association
• Company limited by guarantee
• Non-distributing co-operative

Please refer to the Glossary on page 7 of the Program Guidelines for entity definitions. 

Applicants are not eligible to apply if, at the time of application, they:

• are not currently or becoming one of the above eligible entities; or
• have received funding for the purpose of a Community Improvement District or a Business Improvement District in the past five years. This includes businesses that have multiple ABNs and have already used one of their ABNs to claim a grant.

(See page 7 within the Program Guidelines)

No, we are unable to provide any advice on how to choose or become one of the eligible entities. However, below are recordings of training modules from the Uptown Accelerator Program on governance and a pro-forma constitution template and governance guide to download.

Recordings:

• Uptown Accelerator Program - Governance and Legal Workshop
• Uptown Accelerator Program - What is a Constitution?
• Uptown Accelerator Program - What is Membership?
• Uptown Accelerator Program - What is Good Governance?
• Uptown Accelerator Program – What is Incorporation?
• Uptown Accelerator Program – What Sort of Entities can we Choose?

Documents:

• Good Governance Guide (PDF 522.47KB)
• Pro-forma constitution template (DOCX 149.38KB)

District Teams must currently be or provide evidence of becoming one of the above eligible entities. If your District is in the process of becoming an eligible entity, letters must be provided from each District Team member acknowledging their agreement to participate in the Uptown Grant Program.

If your Uptown Grant application is successful, the District Team must be formally registered as an eligible entity by 28 February 2025 in order to execute the funding deed.

Applicants must have an ABN at the time of application to be eligible to apply. However, if you are in the process of acquiring an ABN for your entity, in your application you may use the ABN of one of your District Team members who must be part of the eligible entity, once registered.

If your Uptown Grant application is successful, an applicable ABN for your District entity must be established to execute the funding deed.

(New Applicants: See page 7 within the Program Guidelines).

All applicants must be GST registered or provide evidence of their GST registration application.

(New Applicants: See page 7 within the Program Guidelines).

For new applicants only, a letter of no objection from your local council and/or contact details of a relevant council representative is required to be provided in your application. Please reach out to uptown@create.nsw.gov.au if you would like support finding a contact within your local council.

The letter of no objection and/or contact details of a relevant council representative must be from a staff member of the local council organisation, not an elected official such as a councillor.

Please reach out to uptown@create.nsw.gov.au if you would like support finding a relevant contact within your local council.

Yes. District Teams that received funding in Round 1 and/or Round 2 can apply for $50,000 (excl. GST) to $100,000 (excl. GST) in funding in Round 3.

District Teams that have already received two years of Uptown Grant Program funding will be required to co-contribute a minimum of 20% of the requested funding amount as additional funding to the Project.

Previous recipients must have either acquitted their Uptown Grant Program Round 1, and/or have completed their check-in report if they are a recipient of the Uptown Grant Program Round 2.

(Previous Recipients: See pages 7 to 8 within the Program Guidelines).

Yes. District Teams that were not successful in Round 1 or Round 2 of the Uptown Grant Program can apply in Round 3 for $100,000 (excl. GST) to $200,000 (excl. GST) for seed funding to coordinate their district and for consumer engagement.

If you received funding in Round 1 of the Uptown Grant Program but not in Round 2, you can apply for $50,000 (excl. GST) to $100,000 (excl. GST) in Round 3.

No, the Program is an open competitive process. However, District Teams who have completed the Uptown Accelerator are generally better positioned to apply as the Accelerator provides the framework for District Teams to establish as a collective and promote their district to partners, sponsors, collaborators, and consumers. 

Applicants who have previously received two rounds of funding through the Uptown Grant Program are required to co-contribute a minimum of 20% of the requested amount as additional funding.

For example, a funding request of $50,000 requires a minimum co-contribution of $10,000. Based on this request, the total project budget will be a minimum of $60,000.

The co-contribution source can be determined by the District Team and may, for example, come from membership fees, other grants or corporate sponsorship.

For new applicants:

A minimum of 50% of the total allocated grant funding must be spent on a coordination function for your district.

The remaining funding may be used for marketing and promotional activities to increase consumer awareness and engagement with the District, such as brand development, marketing activities, and trialling multi-in-venue events or activations. (See pages 10 to 11 within the Program Guidelines for a detailed overview of eligible activities).

For previous recipients:

A minimum of 50% of the total allocated funding must be used for marketing and promotional activities to increase consumer awareness and engagement with the District, such as brand development, marketing activities, and trialling multi-in-venue events or activations.

The remaining funding may be spent on a coordination function for your district. (See pages 9 to 10 within the Program Guidelines for a detailed overview of eligible activities).

Only eligible activities will be funded under the Uptown Grant Program.

The following activities cannot be funded under the Uptown Grant:

• rent and utilities
• purchase or lease of land or property
• venue hire
• activities, equipment or supplies that are already being supported through other sources
• financing costs, including interest and debt financing
• aaintenance and repairs
• capital works
• purchasing of permanent equipment / fixed assets
• fundraising/prizes
• education or training costs
• costs incurred before the approved project start date
• activity that constitutes the normal course of business for District Team members, not related to eligible grant activities
• activity that takes place outside of the eligible district
• activity that takes place after the end of the grant funding period; and
• hospitality costs associated with business-as-usual activities such as District Team member meetings.

The above list of ineligible activities is not exhaustive.

For new applicants, the Uptown Grant Program is open to District Teams that are based in LGAs in Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Lower Hunter and Greater Newcastle, and Illawarra-Shoalhaven. A full list of eligible LGAs can be found in the Guidelines. (See page 9 within the Program Guidelines).

For previous recipients, the Uptown Grant Program is open to District Teams based in Greater Sydney LGAs that were eligible and funded in Round 1 and/or Round 2 of the Program. 

The Uptown Grant Program is funded and delivered by the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner. The Program was designed to align with the eligibility of the third round of the Uptown District Acceleration Program (which commenced in June 2024 with the Uptown Accelerator) which was open to applicants in LGAs across the Six Cities Region.

Districts that have received funding through the CID Pilot Program or BID demonstrate maturity in their approach to precinct management and have advanced beyond the purpose of the Uptown Grant Program.

A minimum of five registered members of the applying entity must be based in the District. Other District Team members may or may not be based in the District.

Yes, there are circumstances where a District cuts across multiple LGAs, however please ensure that it meets the Program definition of a District (see page 6 of the Program Guidelines).

A business can only be a member of more than one District Team if they are operating multiple venues under one ABN, but there are separate operating addresses for those venues.

Yes. A business that is currently a member of a Round 1 and/or Round 2 District Team can apply for Round 3 funding as part of another District Team. However, the business must operate multiple venues under one ABN.  Each venue must have a separate address and each venue can only participate in one District Team.

A business whose venue is currently part of a Round 1 or Round 2 District Team cannot be part of a new District Team using the same address.

The Coordinator is the central contact point within the District Team. While they are not necessarily the primary decision maker, they execute and deliver initiatives on behalf of the District Team. See the Program Guidelines for a list of activities that a Coordinator would be expected to undertake.

Applications close 29 January 2025 at 2pm AEDT.

Applications can only be made through the NSW Government’s Grant Finder website.

No. Only one application can be made per District Team.

Previous Uptown Grant Program recipients will be sent a link to the Round 3 application form via email. This will be sent to the current account holder email address registered in SmartyGrants. The application form for previous recipients will not be made publicly available on the Grant Finder website, however all other information relating to the Program will be.

If your District Team has not received the application form, please contact DCITHS staff Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm on:

Phone: (02) 9228 4578

Email: uptown@create.nsw.gov.au

No. Applications will not be received after the closing date and time unless there were technical difficulties outside of your control in submitting your application.

In this instance, you must contact DCITHS within 60 minutes of the closing time and provide evidence and information of the technical issues which prevented the application from being submitted which may include:

• error messages with timestamps; and
• all supporting documentation, which may include downloaded copies of your application form and any attachments.

Late applications due to technical difficulties will be reviewed and eligibility determined with absolute discretion by the Director, Programs within the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner. Technical difficulties do not include where an application form was commenced, but the applicant ran out of time to complete it.

Late applications will only be considered where the acceptance would not compromise the integrity and competitiveness of the process. Applicants will be notified on the outcome and next steps following the review.

(New Applicants: See page 21 within the Program Guidelines).

No. Once an application has been submitted via SmartyGrants, it cannot be edited. Please ensure when you are submitting your application that it is complete and final. The O24HEC may seek clarification during the application assessment process; however, this will be at its absolute discretion during the assessment.

Yes, it is mandatory to use the following templates in your application:

• Event plan (if proposing multi-in-venue events and activations)
• Budget
• Risk Management Plan

Where these templates have not been used for the application, the O24HEC reserves the right to consider the application to be non-conforming and not consider it further, at its absolute discretion. 

Events or activations must adhere to local planning controls and approvals, and have the endorsement of any relevant sponsors. Applicants are strongly encouraged to ensure they are aware of all approvals or consents required, and should demonstrate that they have consulted with relevant parties.

Proposed projects are not required to have received approvals prior to applying. However, they myst demonstrate an approach to achieving approvals in the Project Plan and/or Events Plan. Proposals with existing approvals will be ranked higher for their deliverability. (New Applicants: See page 20 of the Program Guidelines)

Multi-in-venue events or activations refers to the programming of activities such as comedy, live music, dancing, trivia, bingo etc. across a minimum of three venues within the district as a unique experience.

Events or activations must take place inside the venues and/or on venue-owned private land. Events or activations that take place on public land (e.g. street festivals) are not eligible activities for funding under the Uptown Grant Program.

The purpose of the Uptown Grant Program is to provide District Teams with funding for coordination and consumer engagement.  Trialling events and activations is one way to increase consumer engagement with the district but is not the primary purpose of the Uptown Grant funding.

Events and activations must be in-venue in order to drive visitation to businesses in the district.

Eligible costs for trialling multi-in-venue events or activations might include artist fees, AV and staging equipment hire, and program and production development fees.

The District Team is not restricted from running events that are out of venues (e.g. a street festival), however the Uptown Grant funding could not be used for costs including artist fees, AV and staging equipment hire, and program and production development fees.  Uptown Grant funding could still be used for marketing and advertising costs associated with the District Team’s event or activation.

No, funding cannot be used for events or activations that are already part of any regular programming for the participating venues. The trial of new or enhanced multi-in-venue events or activations may involve a different activity or theme to regular programming. For example, hosting a comedy night instead of a regular live music night. Eligible multi-in-venue events or activations might also leverage existing events in the area. For example, if there is an existing festival in the area, your District Team might complement this with additional multi-in-venue events.

District Teams that wish to use the Uptown Grant funding for trialling multi-in-venue events or activations must attach evidence of established brand and marketing assets. This demonstrates your District Team’s maturity and readiness to undertake this level of program delivery.

Evidence may include a preliminary logo, draft brand guidelines, social media accounts or website for the District.

Only District Teams who have previously received two rounds of funding through the Uptown Grant Program are required to co-contribute a minimum of 20% of the requested amount as additional funding.

However, the assessment panel may consider any other proposed income and funding sources identified when assessing applications from new applicants.

Yes, costs associated with trademarking your District brand is considered part of brand development, which is an eligible activity for funding under Eligible Activity 2 Consumer Engagement. (New Applicants: See pages 10 to 11 of the Program Guidelines)

No. All expenses for the Program must be incurred after the approved project start date.

The assessment and approval process can take several weeks, and successful applicants will be notified as soon as possible on the outcome of their grant application.

If your application is ineligible, you will be advised via email within 14 business days after the closing date of the Program and your application will not proceed to assessment.

(New Applicants: See page 21 of the Program Guidelines).

It is common for grant application outcomes to be released to applicants under embargo. The embargo helps to ensure the public announcement has the greatest impact possible in promoting the program. During the embargo period, applicants must not publicise the outcome in public domains such as social forums, websites, journals or newspapers.

The embargo applies to all applicants, including those who have been unsuccessful.

Yes, provided the application has not been submitted. Please send your request to uptown@create.nsw.gov.au and provide the new contact person and their email address for us to change the District Team’s access in SmartyGrants.

Applicants may contact DCITHS staff Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm on:

Phone: (02) 9228 4578

Email:  uptown@create.nsw.gov.au

In the interests of probity and ensuring fairness, DCITHS staff are not able to assist applicants with specific content related queries or comment on their applications.