The Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission spent most of its recent workshop discussing tweaks to procedures for giving marketing money to individuals and groups who are bringing events to the city.

City tourism director Madison Dawson presented suggested changes during the May 12 workshop at The Auditorium. Some of those potential revisions included topics such as how many years a particular event could request money and setting deadlines for required paperwork before and after an event.

“I believe this was made to help new and growing events get on their own two feet,” Dawson said of the CAPC practice of receiving applications for money to be spent on advertising for an event. “Someone comes here, and they say, ‘I have this really great event. We’ve never done it before. I think it’s going to be great, but we don’t have, you know, a budget for advertising because it’s our first year.’

“Well, this is what I think our program was made for. [Currently] after three consecutive years, [an event] doesn’t receive funding support after that, because at that point [the event] should have grown and if it’s going to be an event that can stand on its own two feet, it should have already gotten there by year four.”

Currently an event can receive up to $5,000 per approved application from the CAPC.

“The guidelines currently say that we will supply funding for three years … [after that] their event should have grown enough that they should be able to fund advertisements on its own,” Dawson said.

Commissioner Carol Wright agreed, adding that at times an event has developed enough financially that funding might not be necessary even sooner than year three.

“I would say maybe [wording it] up to three years, because if they would say they’re not effective in their first year then we might feel maybe it doesn’t really warrant a second year,” Wright said. “So, do a good job and we’ll fund you for three years.”

The commission also discussed requiring groups who are applying for funds to submit information to the CAPC five months before the event. That timing would allow Dawson time to vet the organization, and if approved, time for the event to use the money to execute the needed advertising.

“I’m all for getting people to plan ahead,” commissioner Patrick Burnett said. “Showing up at a meeting the weekend before an event is just ridiculous. I mean, it shows a lack of planning on their part.”

The commission also discussed a requirement that events will need to provide certain feedback to the CAPC within 30 days after the event. The information would include things such as attendance for the event and other numbers aimed at giving the CAPC the calculations needed to determine a return on investment.

“That’s what we need because we are giving events X amount of dollars,” Dawson said, “We need to know that it was a good return of investment for us and for them, too.”

?The CAPC also talked about further looking into the best way to handle events that come to the commission late in a year for approval of funds for an event that doesn’t actually happen until the following year.

Any specific changes to CAPC policies could be voted on in upcoming regular meetings. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25.