DocFest won’t be getting monetary support from the Belleville Downtown Improvement Area this year.
The board voted at their meeting Tuesday night to turn down a request from DocFest Chair Holly Dewar for $2,000 to sponsor the Saturday night feature documentary.
This is the first time a funding request has been made from DocFest to the BDIA.
Melanie Hilmi of Caper’s said she sees the benefits of DocFest in her restaurant as it does bring people downtown and the city is trying to promote themselves as an arts and cultural destination.
The board turned down the request not because they don’t want to support the event, but they felt it was more prudent to find out how the downtown businesses themselves would benefit from the sponsorship, not the BDIA themselves.
Council representative Ryan Williams said it is quite easy to spend an entire budget on events if not really careful and they need to be strategic.
The board did say they would fully support DocFest through social media and marketing and would welcome the opportunity to sponsor the event next year.
Dewar told the board they have a $9,000 sponsorship goal for this year and are currently at $5,000.
