THE government has said it will be giving “up to £30,000” of additional funding to the Jersey International Air Display – despite organisers already announcing that it had been “saved by the generosity of Islanders”.
Uncertainty over whether this year’s event would go ahead ended earlier this week, with lead organiser Mike Higgins revealing that there were now “sufficient funds to put on the flying display” after individuals and businesses donated to a public crowd-funding appeal.
The appeal came amid warnings from organisers that a “shortfall in financial support” could see the display cancelled this year.
However, the fundraiser – which was launched last month – had generated over £30,000 by the end of last week.
This prompted Mr Higgins to announce on Monday that, alongside private and corporate sponsorship that had been secured, the event had been “saved by the generosity of Islanders”.
But in a statement shared with the JEP on Tuesday, the government said that “while Islanders have given very generously”, crowd-funding “is not able to fully finance the air display”.
It added that the display “will again be receiving extra last-minute support of up to £30,000 from government over and above the £40,000 grant which has already been committed”.
The statement continued: “It has always been the case that Islanders expect government to test the resilience of grant funding for long-standing events and projects to ensure compatibility with our island’s wider priorities and value for money.
“Along with extra funding, the Economic Development Minister will meet JIAD in October to ensure that the organisation is able to modernise its approach to fundraising in an attempt to avoid these annual last-minute requests for extra taxpayer funding.”
Reacting to the statement, Mr Higgins said: “We are grateful for the £40,000 grant we received from the Economic Development Department towards the costs of this year’s air display, which has now been fully funded through donations from corporations and individuals received through our crowd-funding appeal.”
He added: “We have not received any additional money from the Economic Development Department towards the air display and, although some discussions did take place with them about a possible underwrite in the event our appeal was unsuccessful, we did not receive any written confirmation [or] correspondence from the department on this matter.”
He continued: “As the event is now fully funded, an underwrite is no longer required. However, if the department would like to offer the additional £30,000 we would gladly accept it to put on an even better air display for the benefit of Islanders.”
Mr Higgins also said that organisers welcomed the talks in October with the minister regarding funding for next year’s event.
“We would also like to thank Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham and the Law Officers’ Department for their assistance in dealing with the matter that held up our permission to hold this year’s air display until 25 July (four weeks ago) and was partially responsible for the shortfall in funding and the necessity for us to make a public appeal.”
