Hundreds of museums and arts organizations all over Florida are dealing with an unprecedented loss of state funding. It's the first time all of the grants approved by the Department of State's Division of Cultural Affairs have been vetoed out of existence. We spoke to several North Florida arts organizations that say they’re determined to survive.
Jennifer Jones heads the Florida Cultural Alliance. It's the statewide advocate for arts organizations. She says a wholesale elimination of these grants has never happened before.
"A total of $32 million on 2 lines. Looking back as far as we can to find details, it had never happened that all of the grant money had been vetoed."
Governor DeSantis said the veto was sparked by his disapproval of the Tampa and Orlando Fringe festivals, which he called "sexual" events and not appropriate for state funding support. Festival organizers have since offered to return their state grants if the governor will restore money to the state's other arts organizations. So far, that hasn't happened. One of the impacted organizations is the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. The grants it lost totaled more than $145,000. But Symphony Director Mandy Stringer said reserve funds and more
community support have helped cushion the blow.
"We had an action plan early in the ballgame and this didn't come out of left field and hit us at a time we weren't expecting it."
But much smaller arts organizations, such as Gadsden Arts, a gallery in Quincy, has a bigger challenge, said director Grace Robinson.
"This is a big hit for us. Year-to-year the funding level varies. But in terms of our small budget, it's between 10 and 12 percent of our budget."
But Robinson insisted Gadsden Arts will survive, even with the state funding loss.
"Recognize, we need to stick to the plan; it's working. We're engaging with many more people and growing as an organization, serving more children, youth, adults and seniors. And in return, more and more people are becoming part of the organization."
Over at the Southern Shakespeare Company, Executive Director Bianca Montague said
program adjustments are underway.
"It's really affected us for the entire year; all of our programming, not just the free festival that we do for our community, but our educational programs that we do in the schools and community centers around town that will be majorly affected as well."
Although Montague said, for Southern Shakes, the show will go on, hopefully with more help from friends and neighbors.
"Unfortunately it's become clear that we can't rely on state government in the long run and people in our community really need to come out and support their favorite arts organizations this year."
Mike Herrin is executive director of the Monticello Opera House.
"We offer access to the performing arts for a lot of people in Jefferson County. So it's important stuff! And I think it makes a real contribution to the well being prosperity and even the economy of Jefferson County."
He saw his legislative grant vanish and is eyeing some cutbacks in the venue's schedule to compensate.
"It's going to really hurt our ability to do some shows to the point we won't be able to do the show, because we just don't have the revenue for it."
The arts organizations most fear that the elimination of the grants will be permanent. There are those who want to bring pressure to bear on lawmakers and the governor's office to reinstate the funding next year. Florida Cultural Alliance head Jennifer Jones is urging a more cautious approach.
"We're going to up our game as far as visibility. We'll be friendly and hopefully educational and inspirational in our presence at the Capitol. Maybe some more visibility in common areas. As far as other kinds of rallies that might appear as protests, we as an organization are not going to coordinate that."
Jones also hopes that all those who love the arts will contact lawmakers and urge them to restore the grants program.
