The City of Asheville will soon be accepting proposals from qualified, nonprofit organizations based in Asheville and Buncombe County who wish to establish strategic event partnerships with the City for calendar years 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Downtown After 5 is an example of an event conducted under a strategic event partnership, one in which the City of Asheville partners with the Asheville Downtown Association to plan and execute. It differs from a sponsorship in that the City does not provide financial support. Rather, in-kind services are made available to organizations that produce events to achieve City of Asheville goals, which can include promoting downtown businesses or community placemaking, among other goals.
Unlike typical event sponsorship, the Request for Proposal (RFP) process seeks to identify nonprofit organizations with the vision and capacity to partner with the City on a scope of work that employs special events as a means to accomplish shared goals and objectives.
Two workshops will be conducted in advance of the proposal posting date to provide information on eligibility requirements, process timeline, the City’s partnership goals and the proposal evaluation criteria that will be used. Here’s the schedule:
- 3 to 4 p.m. Nov. 15, Asheville City Hall, Fifth Floor Conference Room
- 10 to 11 a.m. Nov. 16, Asheville City Hall, Fifth Floor Conference Room
Please register using this form if you would like to attend one of the workshops, or if unable to attend, please indicate on the form if would like to receive materials from the workshop by mail, email or another format.
The RFP is scheduled to be posted on Nov. 26 at ashevillenc.gov/specialevents and ashevillenc.gov/departments/purchasing
The proposal deadline is 5 p.m. Jan. 7, 2019.
For more information, contact Jon Fillman at 828-259-5738 or jfillman@ashevillenc.gov.