Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund helps bring vibrant events to the city

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund is helping rejuvenate areas across the city with vibrant festivals and events that do more than just bring people out to enjoy them. This year, the City of Syracuse government has $140,000 available for festivals taking place from this September through September 2025. Grant amounts range from $3,000 to $10,000 per festival. The idea for the fund came about several years ago when Jimmy Monto, the Syracuse Common Council member for District 5 had a discussion with Common Councilor-At-Large Rasheada Caldwell about “how the city needs to have some skin in the game when it comes to festivals,” Monto recalls. He knows from his own experience organizing a festival that it is difficult, especially for smaller festivals, to get things off the ground. Monto wanted the city to do what it could to help these events. Since most festival organizers start with a small budget, that seemed an effective way to help because even a small grant can make a dramatic difference, he adds. “We’re one of the most diverse places around,” Monto says. “The idea that we celebrate those festivals matters.” Big events around holidays like Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day soak up a lot of the spotlight, but the smaller festivals throughout the year are the ones that continue to bring people to the city, Monto contends. “The city can show everybody they have a place here,” he says. Festivals celebrating other cultures also help combat fear and negativity. It wasn’t too difficult to get Mayor Ben Walsh and the rest of the Common Council on board with the Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund, which is now in its third year. In the first two years, the money helped fund more than 20 different festivals around the city. For the Hanover Thursdays Music Series, that money helped legitimize what lead organizer Joe Driscoll was trying to do. “You’re basically selling an invisible dream,” Driscoll says of trying to start a festival. “This fund and Visit Syracuse [Onondaga County’s official tourism promotion agency] were the two that believed in us to get us started.” Now in its third year, that first-year funding was vital to get the Hanover Thursdays Music Series started. It helped pay for the bands that performed, which in turn drew the crowds. “That funding was essential the first year,” Driscoll says. And the success of the inaugural event helped him add more funding sources for subsequent years. Also wrapping up its third year, the Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund money remains an important part of the festival budget, but is no longer the main source of funding, he says. The Hanover Thursdays Music Series has been so successful, he adds, that other neighborhoods are now reaching out asking for their own festivals. Driscoll and his crew have expanded into Westcott Street this year with a Thursday night event through September. More than just something to do, festivals help contribute to the revitalization of the neighborhoods they are located in, and that benefits the entire city, Driscoll says. “It’s been amazing to see Hanover Square packed,” he adds. That vibrancy leads to other positive things like people looking to move to that area or even businesses opening there. The Downtown Syracuse Foundation administers the Syracuse Cultural Festivals Fund. The funding is designed to reimburse organizers for eligible expenses, but consideration may also be given for direct payment to vendors for eligible services rendered. Applications are reviewed based on several factors including how the festival attracts visitors to public spaces, increases the community’s awareness of cultural or artistic assets, builds appreciation for a diversity of cultures, and/or creates opportunities to celebrate diversity and artistic opportunities. Eligible festivals and events must be held in public spaces, be free for the public to attend, and provide entertainment or activities for patrons. Applications for funding should be submitted at least two months prior to the event date.