Love My Place Grants Program

Overview
This grant program aims to activate public space in order to support the local community and businesses.
Projects supported by this Program should contribute to the Council Plan strategic directions to guide our program priorities for the future:
- Vibrant Port Phillip – A City that has a flourishing economy, where our community and local businesses thrive, and we maintain and enhance our reputation as one of Melbourne’s cultural and creative hubs.
- Liveable Port Phillip – A City that is a great place to live, where our community has access to high quality public spaces, development and growth are well-managed, and it is safer and easy to connect and travel within.
This year's grant recipients
Shalome Pinto
The project transforms an underutilized public space in the City of Port Phillip into a vibrant hub of community engagement.
By installing an outdoor ping pong table and having engaging artwork on it and around it, we create inclusive, accessible areas for all to play and have some fun. Through a series of events and activities, we foster social interaction, boost local businesses, and enhance overall livability. Sport and Art are always known as creative drivers to enhance public space. Combining these two to create a fun and vibrant public space for the local community to access.
Localite
If we have designated spots for activities like smoking, why can't we extend this idea to create designated spaces for interactive, community-driven activities that enhance the city experience?
We seek to implement our project "Designated Living Spaces," identifiable by circles marked on pavements and open areas.
Rawcus Theatre
Sea Symphony is an enchanting and immersive free installation by the award winning Rawcus Ensemble in collaboration with artists Kate Hunter and Rea Dennis. Sea Symphony playfully celebrates our neighbourhood by the beach.
Audiences are invited to step inside a wooden phone box situated outside Theatre Works St Kilda. Bright red and friendly on the outside, the phone box is lit from within. As you enter, the phone box is revealed to be a one-person installation space. When the door shuts, a soundscape of stories commences with words and phrases animated on screens.
Adele Varcoe
Fashion artist Adele Varcoe in collaboration with local markers/sewers, musicians and dancers would like to deliver Party Bus, a creative, performative project targeting people of all ages (0-100) and genders in the City of Port Phillip. The project will include a garment making workshop that will culminate in an activation during Melbourne Fashion Festival in March 2024. The project will encourage connection, play and belonging.
Linden Arts
The project is a 6-week free and open series of music events and art workshops, held on weekend afternoons, in the Linden front yard.
The project encourages our local community to take ownership of the site as public space, space they can inhabit regardless of time. Time where they can come together to play, connect, and celebrate.
Isabel Hartaeg
The Living Portrait Theatre Project is a community arts experiment where collaborating artists Issy Hart and David Wells invite members of the community to enter a small performance space and be transformed into a living portrait.
Grant value
Eligible projects can apply for up to $15,000.
In addition, Council can provide support to successful applicants with marketing, road closures, parking controls, permit approvals, permission to use spaces and more.
Key dates
Activity | Scheduled Date |
Applications open | 9am 14 August 2023 |
Applications close | 11:59pm 10 September 2023* |
Grant recipients announced | November 2023 |
Funds issues to successful applicants | November 2023 |
Project delivery | Before 30 June 2024 |
Final acquittal due | 31 July 2024 |
*Late applications will not be assessed.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply, applicants must:
- Be incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act or supported by an Incorporated Association that is deemed to be non-profit, as classified by the Australian Taxation Office (section 103A(2) c) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936).
- Have a valid ABN.
- Have Public Liability Insurance or an auspice organisation Public Liability Insurance with a minimum coverage of $20 million.
- Comply with all terms and conditions included in Appendix C of this document.
- Seek out an auspice organisation if they are a sole trader, individual or unregistered group.
- Be based in Victoria or have a Victorian partner with the capability to deliver the project.
- Have no outstanding acquittal reports for previous Love My Place and other City of Port Phillip grants.
- Projects previously unfunded by the Love My Place program are eligible to apply.
Applications that do not meet the eligibility criteria will not continue for further assessment.
There is no limit in the number of projects submitted by each applicant, however, a new application must be generated for each initiative.
What can be funded?
Examples of what can be funded as part of this grant program include, but are not limited to:
- Experimental projects within the public realm.
- Public space improvements, including landscaping, amenity, play, gathering spaces, etc.
- Creative lighting installations, including projections.
- Public art installations.
- Creative events and music projects.
- Temporary public urban agriculture/greening initiatives.
- Community health and wellbeing activities.
- Activities and games.
- Interactive or experiential installations.
Contact us
For any general queries about the Program, contact the Economic Growth and Activation team on:
Guidelines
Download a copy of the Love My Place 2023-24 Program Guidelines below: