Now entering into its tenth year, the 2025/26 Stratford Destination Development Fund (DDF) will prioritize impactful and innovative destination development projects in Stratford with an emphasis on initiatives that are year-round or occur during the shoulder and winter seasons.
Applications are open until May 1, 2025 at 5:00 P.M.
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The Stratford Destination Development Fund was established with investment from Regional Tourism Organization 4 (RT04), Downtown Stratford BIA and Destination Stratford to enable and support experiential projects that are highly shareable and have high impact on the destination. The selected projects directly align with Stratford’s cultural DNA and will strengthen the experiences and storytelling opportunities for both residents and visitors.
The successful 2024 applications were:
- Stratford Summer Music – Side-By-Side Series
- Provocation Ideas Festival – City of Dreamers
- Stratford Arts and Culture Collective – A Stratford Christmas 2024
- SpringWorks Festival – PuppetWorks! Cultural Activations
- Playmakers! Theatre School – Lantern Festival: Labrinth of the Seasons
- Stratford Film Festival
- Stratford Walking Tours – Historic and Hospitality
- Gallery Stratford – Malcolm Pate Exhibition
- Stratford Winter Film Festival
- Stratford Country Club – Glow Curling
The goals of the Stratford DDF include:
- Increase the number of high-quality visitor-focused experiences during the shoulder and winter seasons (may also include creative displays during Lights On Stratford).
- Provide opportunities for destination storytelling and visitor generated content creation.
- Strengthen the network of destination stakeholders taking an active role in our tourism future.
Organizations eligible for funding include:
- Tourism enterprises and businesses (as individual organizations or as a consortium) with interests in arts & culture, heritage, agri-culinary, sports, meetings & conventions, etc.
- Festivals and Events.
- For-profit or non-profit organizations.
Applicants can apply for a range of support for new tourism-related experiences, enhancements to existing tourism-related experiences (in-person or digital, projects that improve the visitor experience), and/or storytelling (capturing of content – photo/video and/or social media).
Individual applications can apply for funding from $500 to $10,000. Applicants are welcome to submit multiple applications for different projects.
Applications are open until May 1, 2025 at 5:00 P.M.
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In addition to DDF, other programs that may be of interest to applicants are:
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