The Tourism Event Development Project (TED) focuses on providing funds to help organizations develop new multi-day events, or expand existing events in the city of Omaha. The goal is to increase out-of-town visitor demand and create new entertainment options that will benefit the community.
The Omaha City Council provided funding of $115,000 for this project. The Visit Omaha Destination Marketing Corporation administers the program with the goal of providing incentive funding to event and festival organizers that will increase out-of-town visitor demand. The Tourism Event Development Committee, made up of five tourism community members, reviews all applications and provides their recommendations to the Destination Marketing Corporation Board.
Applications for TED incentive dollars will be accepted via email from 8:00 am on March 18, 2019 through 11:59 pm on December 20, 2019, or up until funding is exhausted. The Omaha City Council provided a limited amount of funding therefor incentive dollars will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the year based on the quality of applications, and up until funding is exhausted. Email timestamps will be used in determining the order of processing applications.
All award recipients must provide at least a 25% match. (Example: If your organization receives a $20,000 award, you must provide proof that at least an additional $5,000 was spent on the event or festival.) At least half (12.5%) must be cash spent towards the project, the other half (12.5%) can be in-kind services and/or donated materials; however, documentation must be provided for any in-kind match. Volunteer work is valued at $10/hour and must be documented, including dates and list of volunteers, the services they provided, and their hours of service.