Advocates say a Shakespearean tragedy is unfolding in Florida's arts community after Gov. Ron DeSantis' $32 million line-item vetoes left nothing for the arts.
"The veto of all cultural and museum grants from the budget is unprecedented," said Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Orlando Representative who was just elected to the Senate. "I'm not aware of any Governor who has ever vetoed that line item because of how devastating it would be to the hundreds of organizations who rely on that funding. It's never happened."
Florida Politics reached out to the Governor's Office for comment to understand DeSantis' rationale for stripping out $26 million for cultural and museum grants and $6 million for cultural facilities. The art funding cuts are part of nearly $900 million in vetoes for the nearly $117 billion budget.
"The governor reviews every bill and appropriation that comes across his desk and uses his authority under the Florida Constitution to make veto decisions that are in the best interest of the State of Florida," DeSantis' Deputy Press Secretary Julia Friedland said, reissuing a statement given to media previously.
Normally, arts funding cuts happen during bad economic times, which makes it unusual in this relatively good year, said University of Central Florida political science associate professor Aubrey Jewett.
DeSantis, who is term-limited as Governor and has national political ambitions, "raised the bar a little bit in terms of how much he's vetoed," Jewett said. "I think he really had a goal in mind of how much he wanted to cut rather than saying, 'Well, let me just look at what I think are wasteful programs or programs that didn't go through the normal vetting process.'"
The state's Division of Arts and Culture evaluated the art groups' grants on merit and economic impact and initially recommended spending $77 million. After the Legislature budgeting process and then the Governor's vetoes, that amount ended up at $0.
Orange County alone lost $1.95 million for arts groups, including $70,500 state grants for the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the Enzian Theater, the Orlando International Fringe Festival, the Orlando Museum of Art, the Orlando Science Center, the United Arts of Central Florida and the Orlando Philharmonic.
"Each of these grantees went through an extensive and onerous vetting process," said Smith, a Democrat. "Those 577 grants, frankly, were more vetted than individual member projects and appropriations in the budget will ever be. … Member projects that are funded in the budget are about who you know. It's about flexing political power."
Smith said for the arts funding to then "only to be vetoed, it's a slap in the face to the entire industry."
The slash in state funding comes abruptly, and two weeks before the new fiscal year begins for many of those groups, leaving them little time to prepare for the impact. The loss of state money is a double whammy because many organizations use the state funding for matching grants elsewhere.
"We've been through ups and downs, and of course, we had COVID then we had to shut down, so it's not as though we're not unfamiliar with crisis and having to regroup and restart," said Roger Blauvelt, the Board Chair of the Winter Park Playhouse.
"This isn't like that. … it just kind of smacks of, I don't know, underhandedness coming at the last minute. Everybody was blindsided. ... Where do you cut back your expenses? Employees? May you cut a show out?"
In Orlando, the arts community runs deep even after many organizations weathered the devastating pandemic shutdowns that darkened entertainment. The actors shine a little brighter than you might see at most local theaters. After all, these performers work day jobs entertaining at Disney World, where guests pay top dollar. Central Florida is home to dozens of arts venues, big and small, entertaining children and adults alike.
Here in Orlando, it's not just the theme parks that drive economic impact. Tour buses park at the Winter Park Playhouse, a 123-seat theater with sold-out shows, and theater patrons eat at restaurants along Park and Orange avenues. One study estimated the economic impact of the arts at $5.7 billion across the state.
"The decision to veto this critical funding was reckless and it was stupid," Smith said. "It was reckless and stupid because these grantees are economic engines in our communities."
For one small musical venue, the state cuts are particularly devastating.
The Timucua Arts Foundation employs only three full-time staff members. The $40,000 in state funding this year helped pay for the artistic director's and the marketing director's salaries at the foundation. Here in what feels like a living room, musicians play in almost perfect acoustics for $30 tickets. The concept was created by a then-Cirque du Soleil Music Director.
"It's heartbreaking," said Leah Nash, the foundation's Executive Director, when discussing the art funding cuts. "What does that mean for arts in general? Is it a goal for the arts to be absent? I hope not. That's terrifying to me. Arts bring so much to life, to people, to culture."
In the past, fiscally-minded Republicans have argued the government should not fund the arts. The rationale: Fill your theaters by selling tickets. Don't rely on the government to subsidize those shows.
Chris Brown, Executive Director of the Orlando Family Stage, takes offense to that line of thinking.
"The arts sort of get painted as these struggling artists, or they're always whining, they're always needing money," said Brown, whose organization was formerly called the Orlando Repertory Theatre. "At the core of it … people have no concept of how much it costs to do what we do."
Aside from the 10 actors on stage, are 30 others who made it all possible behind the scenes, he said.
The Orlando Family Stage isn't in danger of closing after losing $70,500 in state funding, Brown stressed, but the venue will likely have to cancel an upcoming show or make adjustments that hurt its mission of making the arts accessible to children.
"These arts groups that do such an amazing thing for our community and our Central Florida lives, and yet we're not ever really taken seriously when it comes down to it," Brown said. "We're sort of given scraps and given peanuts."
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