About Uptown
The two-stage Uptown Program is designed to fast-track the formation of local business communities and facilitate the growth of their districts into vibrant going out hubs in line with the NSW Government’s 24-Hour Economy Strategy for Greater Sydney.
Stage 1 of the program took place in late 2022, with the Uptown Accelerator providing capability-building opportunities for dozens of District Teams across Greater Sydney. This culminated in the staging of the Uptown District Showcase on 30 November 2022, where Districts pitched their vision to potential partners and collaborators.
In Stage 2, the Uptown Grant Program, District Teams can apply for seed funding valued at up to $200,000 but no less than $100,000, excluding GST.
The Uptown Grant Program aims to establish self-sustaining districts that have a distinct identity/offering, by installing a coordination function for effective District management and building consumer engagement and connection with the District.
Read the transcript of the 'Uptown district showcase' video
tonight Sydney's creative Elite got
together to fuel a new vision for Sydney
one that will inspire a new generation
of cultural leadership across many
different districts until there's many
different stories that we know are there
but we sometimes don't necessarily think
about when we think about Sydney
having all these incredible people in
the one room and not only just for us
but also the opportunities that we've
now had to collaborate with the other
districts other partners other spaces of
government it's been really incredible
just to be inspired and just to feel so
connected
it means an opportunity and we believe
that there's a future not just for
Sydney but for every single district for
the better of our society
Stage 1
Applications for the Uptown Accelerator closed in September 2022.
Read the Accelerator Guidelines (PDF) 976 KB
Stage 2
Applications closed at 2pm AEST on Thursday, 9 March 2023.
Applicants will be advised the outcome of their application in May 2023.
Read the Uptown Grant Program Guidelines. (PDF) 1.3 MB
The following documents were available for download during the application process:
- Appendix I – Sample Progress Report (DOCX) 29 KB
- Appendix II.a – Sample Project Acquittal and Certification Document (DOCX) 52 KB
- Appendix II.b – Sample Final Project Status Report (DOCX) 50 KB
- Pro-forma Constitution for 24-hour economy districts (template) (DOCX) 92 KB
- Budget (template) (XLSX) 156 KB
- Risk management (template) (DOCX) 751 KB
- Project plan (template) (DOCX) 44 KB
Contact us
For further information or clarification, please contact us:
Ph: (02) 8289 6520 (9:00am – 5:00pm Monday to Friday)
Email: [email protected]
Photo credit: Cassandra Hannagan