THE government is “minded” to try and save the air display with extra funding if needed, according to the Economic Development Minister – who has urged organisers to make the event “bigger and better”.
Deputy Kirsten Morel said that he wanted to see this year’s display go ahead, but stressed that those behind the event needed to find more commercial sponsorship and “seek to innovate” rather than rely on government grants.
The air display team has warned that the event – due to take place on 12 September – could be cancelled because of a “shortfall in financial support” unless more funding is found by Friday.
A fundraiser launched last month had raised almost half of its £50,000 target.
The display has frequently found itself in a precarious financial situation in recent years, with last year’s event saved by a successful last-ditch call for funding as well as a £60,000 grant from the Economic Development Department.
But event organiser Mike Higgins has said the team is battling rising costs post-Covid at the same time as the grant has been “progressively reduced” from £110,000 in 2014 to £60,000 in 2022 and last year – and is now £40,000.
Deputy Morel acknowledged that funding had reduced over the last decade, but said that the “core grant” was £40,000 annually for the last three years – and that extra funding for previous displays had often been sought after organisers approached government “at the last minute”.
He explained: “I want to see the Air Display go ahead this year and so if some extra funding is needed, I am minded to try to find to find that – but the lessons of the past few years need to be taken into account.”
He added: “It is really important that the Jersey International Air Display does professionalise and seek to innovate and find more commercial sponsorship into the future – because government will not always be able to be relied upon for extra funding or to fund the whole event.”
It recently emerged that government funding for the Battle of Flowers – a ticketed event – almost doubled in 2024, with the annual grant rising to £270,000 from £150,000 a year earlier.
However, Deputy Morel said he did not believe that the Air Display and the Battle of Flowers were “comparable events”.
“While they both have elements of community engagement, the Battle of flowers has a massive element of community engagement taking place over many, many months and involving thousands of Islanders of all ages.
“It’s a hugely inclusive community event – it’s not just the parade, it’s the making of the floats, it’s the rehearsing the dances, across all 12 parishes.
“But one of the key differences between [Battle] and the Air Display in terms of government funding was that the Battle of Flowers Association came to us a long time ago, a year ago, with a business case [saying] if you can give us this much extra funding, we will do this, this and this to modernise etcetera.
“To date, I have not had a business case from the Air Display, either seeking more funding or telling us how they’re going to modernise and improve the Air Display into the future.
“If they want more funding, they would need to do a proper business case that can give me as minister, comfort that they are going to transform this into a bigger, better event.”
