The Dunedin City Council is hoping a slice of a $9.5 million Rugby World Cup funding carrot could see popular festival events - such as Dunedin's midwinter lantern parade - restaged during next year's tournament.
Details of the nationwide festival fund - to be paid for by the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board - were released by Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully last week.
Applications close on September 17.
Council marketing and communications manager Debra Simes said yesterday she hoped Dunedin groups could "optimistically" secure about $1 million of the funding.
The money could help organisers stage 10-20 festivals and other events across Otago during the RWC tournament.
These events would otherwise not be held, she said, when contacted.
"That's a significant amount of festival and events money across the region ... Our aim will be to get a significant proportion of it."
The money would be in addition to the council's $200,000 budget for tournament events, including a "fan zone" planned for the Octagon, and its annual events funding of just over $1 million.
Securing additional lotteries funding could mean some popular Dunedin festival events, such as the midwinter lantern parade, were staged a second time, during the tournament.
Other new events at a planning stage, but still in need of funding - such as a proposed seafood festival in Port Chalmers - could also become a reality with assistance from the fund.
"It means we can start looking at our existing events ... and say, 'Are there components of this we can pull out and restage during the Rugby World Cup?'."
Council staff were talking to groups about the fund, and would consider assisting groups to make applications, with a co-ordinated approach in mind.
The aim would be to provide a mix of events across the city and region, promoting various elements of the region's rural and urban communities, without cannibalising events from other parts of the council's festivals programme, she said.
Regular events would not be moved, but - like the lantern parade - could be held a second time for the benefit of tourists.
However, the funding was expected to be oversubscribed and "hotly contested".
"But we certainly aim to get our share of funding," she said.
Mr McCully said in a statement the fund aimed to maximise community involvement, and would support events including concerts, fairs, exhibitions, street markets and parades.
The fund would be administered by the Department of Internal Affairs, with spending decisions made by a panel.
Recipients would be advised in early November.
The funding was part of a nationwide push to build a cultural festival around the tournament, being co-ordinated by the Government's New Zealand 2011 Office.
Office festival director Briony Ellis said the aim was to encourage international visitors and Kiwis to "take the long way around" the country while travelling between matches.
Ms Ellis told the Otago Daily Times in May details of the programme would be revealed in September, but about 1000 events would feature - including more than 100 already confirmed in the southern region.
That included Last Night of the Proms in Dunedin, Waitaki Golden Oldies rugby festival, Dunedin Rhododendron Festival and a Bluff Oyster Season Reprise.
There would also be "thematically linked" trails throughout the country, with one potential trail taking in restaurant Fleur's Place in Moeraki, she said.
