MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - A partnership among the economic development departments from the municipalities of Sundre and Didsbury as well as Mountain View County have been approved for $44,300 in grant funding under the federal government's for CanExport Community Investments - Foreign Direct Investment program.
The funding will be used in a joint regional project focusing on developing the local technology industry through filming opportunities, Chris Atchison, the county's director of legislative, community and agricultural services, recently told council.
“What we are using this funding for is really focused on the filming industry. Between Didsbury, Sundre and the county, we do have quite a few filming opportunities that come up,” he said.
"So, we are working on developing essentially a filming inventory of different locations, and eventually being able to open it up to the general public as well just to note any property owners who might be interested in having filming opportunities in the future.”
The plan is for the filming industry to have a “one-stop shop” of information on different opportunities within the municipalities, he said.
“This is something we are pretty excited about working with the towns on,” he said.
Meanwhile, Atchison also gave council members an update on recent allocations to community groups through grant programs. A total of $33,750 has been allocated to date, including $11,000 to cemeteries, $97,500 to Family and Community Support Services, $36,949 to health programs, $68,575 to rural community halls, and $33,750 to transportation. A total of $45,000 has been approved for allocation.
“Where the difference between approved and allocated is most of our grant programs have that 75-25 split,” he said.
"So, 75 per cent of it will go out of the door right off the bat and the remaining 25 per cent is at the completion of the project after receiving the project completion report.”
