Christchurch Heritage Festival : Christchurch City Council

An annual festival held in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula to celebrate the heritage of our district.

Be part of Christchurch Heritage Festival 2020

The Heritage Festival will run from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 8 November.

Event applications open on Wednesday 5 August and close on Friday 21 August. Find out more about the application process below.

If you have any queries email us at heritage@ccc.govt.nz

Apply

Event applications will open and can be submitted from Wednesday 5 August to Friday 21 August.

To submit an event application you will need to complete an event plan. See the following template and example:

The event plan must be submitted with your online application form(external link). We recommend completing the event plan first, so you have this to refer to when filling out the application form.

Please read the Christchurch Heritage Festival 2020 Application Guidelines [PDF, 688 KB], which includes the terms and conditions, before completing the form.

Please note that as the timeframe for planning this year’s festival is very tight due to COVID-19, we won’t be able to accept any late or incomplete applications. Submitting your event application as early as possible in the submission period would be helpful, and much appreciated by our team.

Community events grant funding

If you’re applying for funding to support your event, please be aware that Christchurch Heritage Festival Community Grants funding is subject to approval from Council on 13 August. Event funding requests submitted with applications prior to this date will be accepted as draft applications. The status of funding will be confirmed following this Council meeting.

Please read the Christchurch Heritage Festival Community Grants Guidelines (draft) [PDF, 517 KB] before applying for funding. The request for funding is part of the online application form.

We look forward to working together with event providers to deliver the Christchurch Heritage Festival 2020.

Encounter our Stories – Arts, culture and identity

Anniversaries reflect aspects of the history of our district and provide a starting point for this year’s festival to explore and celebrate the arts, culture and identity of the many communities that live here.

Some of the anniversaries in 2020 we know about so far include:

150 years since the opening of the Canterbury Museum building and the city’s first major art exhibition
75 years since the end of World War II in Europe and the Pacific

Here in Ōtautahi Christchurch and Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula, we have many stories, from Ngāi Tahu, European settlers, Pasifika and people of other ethnic and cultural backgrounds who have made this place home.

The Christchurch Heritage Festival 2020 is an opportunity to share the stories of the past that explore and celebrate our historic journeys through arts, culture and identity.