By DANE LILLINGSTONE
THE future of Jumpers and Jazz in July has created a mountain of speculation lately with fears it would not be supported by Destination Southern Downs, but a top official has rubbished the claims, declaring it will go ahead.
The fears were raised when a letter began circulating from the Warwick Art Gallery to the Southern Downs Regional Council, raising concerns they had not received confirmation of support from DSD on Jumpers and Jazz.
Implementation Project manager Tracy Dobie said she had no doubts it would go ahead.
“Jumpers and Jazz will continue as the iconic event it is,” she said.
“It has a lot of activities that bring a lot of people to the region.”
However, she did stress that the role of DSD will not be the same as the one formerly played by Warwick Tourism and Events.
“Running events is not in our charter anymore,” she said.
“The councillors chose to adopt the TEAM Tourism report which does not make allowance for DSD to manage events. We are responsible for strategic direction for events.”
“It’s not in our budget going forward.”
Southern Downs Regional Council CEO David Keenan provided the Southern Free Times with the exact figures Destination Southern Downs has been allocated.
The 2015/’16 budget allocated $479,659 under community grants of which $430,205 went to Destination Southern Downs and $49,454 went to Southern Queensland Country.
There was also a $71,880 grant approved for major festivals in the June council general meeting of which $12,500 went to Destination Southern Downs for the Warwick Rodeo.
Mr Keenan said they weren’t simply grants for major events.
“These are the council budgets for the events and include wages, plant hire, materials, advertising and promotion, as well as small cash grants,” he said.
Mr Keenan confirmed that DSD ran as an independent board that did not have to answer to SDRC.
Councillor Jamie Mackenzie expressed his concerns in the last council general meeting.
“We have no way of checking on what they are doing at this point in time,” he said.
The vote to adopt the Southern Downs Tourism Transition Reference Group recommendations, including shifting to a singular tourism body for the region, was voted on in the February council general meeting with a 5-4 vote to carry the motion. Crs Blundell, Gow, Ingram, McNally and Meiklejohn voted for the motion with Bartley, Mackenzie, Pennisi and Rees voting against it.
Ms Dobie said the DSD employed three fulltime staff, three part-time staff and three casual tourist officers. They also manage Warwick and Stanthorpe’s Visitor Information Centres. Along with providing strategic direction, they are responsible for destination marketing.
“The grant from council covers employee costs and office and running costs,” she said.
The next step is a planned meeting on Tuesday 27 October at 6pm at the Warwick Town Hall to discuss the format of Jumpers and Jazz in July.
“Come and have your say at what you want at Jumpers and Jazz,” she said.
“I want the community to be engaged. I want them to have both sides of the story.
“Part of what I would like to be able to ascertain from the public meeting is – what does the community want from Jumpers and Jazz? Does the community participate in it or is it only visitors?
“There is a large cost to running an event like this where entertainment is provided to the public at no cost.
Ms Dobie also raised concerns that negative press was hurting DSD and the region.
“I think the negative reporting on Jumpers and Jazz is damaging our region. There are certain people I believe who don’t want DSD to succeed. This is the local tourist organisation and we’re trying to do the right thing by the region. Being constantly attacked in the media isn’t allowing us to,” she said.
“Jumpers and Jazz will go ahead, Jumpers and Jazz will be a success but the negative press isn’t doing us any favours and particularly the community in Warwick and the Southern Downs.”
