Council duo receive State scholarships

Council's Rachel Merton and Jade Kerin are set to gain further experience in coordinating the city's events after receiving scholarships through Destination NSW.

The scholarships will provide financial assistance for Rachel (Events Coordinator) and Jade (Gallery and Marketing Assistant) to pursue a Diploma in Event Management.

The scholarship program is part of the NSW Government’s partnership with Australia’s peak industry body for business events, Meetings & Events Australia (MEA), which aims to upskill and create more job opportunities for rural and regional NSW communities.

Member for Barwon, Kevin Humphries, announced the scholarships today and said he was "delighted" to assist the duo.

“Rachel and Jade will be connected to an online community of students, providing a great opportunity for networking and learning more about the development and delivery of events from fellow peers," said Mr Humphries.

“Broken Hill and the Far West already plays host to an amazing array of events and it is opportunities like this which help us with much needed expansion of our current tourism offering, while upskilling our local champions."

Council's General Manager, James Roncon, said the scholarships represented a great learning opportunity for Rachel and Jade.

"Rachel already has a very solid background in Events Management, as demonstrated most recently by her coordination of the illumination of the Town Hall Facade to open the city's Heritage Festival.

"Meanwhile Jade has only been with the Council team for around 12 months, but she's already hit the ground running and assisted with organising a number of exhibitions and events at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery.

"These scholarships will further bolster the skills and potential they have both already demonstrated in their respective roles.

"I also understand that there was tough competition for these scholarships, so we're very proud as an organisation that two members of our team were selected."

NSW Minister for Tourism and Major Events Adam Marshall said almost 80 applications were received by Destination NSW since the program opened in February 2018.