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Arts Advocacy

 United Arts’ study – COVID-related impact/losses to the arts community:
–  Orange County

–  City of Orlando

United Arts’ role in arts advocacy: 

United Arts and Orange Arts & Cultural Affairs Advocacy Committee work in concert with the Florida Cultural Alliance statewide advocacy agency, primarily for increased state arts funding through the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs. 

Each year, a group of Central Florida arts leaders makes a trip to Tallahassee to meet with our legislators. United Arts coordinates the travel and accommodations, sets up the legislative appointments, prepares talking points, and conducts a debrief with area participants for the separate teams’ legislative meetings.
Occasionally we work with our national partners at Americans for the Arts on advocacy for NEA funding, federal relief support, and other initiatives.
We will notify you of advocacy alerts when we need your help to contact legislators to request support for increasing statewide arts funding.
If you want to be included in alert emails, or are interested in joining the Tallahassee group, please send your contact information to: Trudy@UnitedArts.cc.

State of Florida Arts Funding 2021-22 (pending session):

Updated 1/4/21:

Florida Cultural Alliance – Arts Advocacy Handbook Jan 4, 2021, v2

March 2, 2021: Legislative Session begins This is week #1. Committees are gathering and bills are being introduced

Arts Advocacy Day: March 11, 2021 – Virtual – Watch for details forthcoming.

The ASK – STATEWIDE:

730 vetted and recommended grants through Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs:

$67,894,343 would fully fund 730 matching grants among all four grant categories. 

  • Cultural and Museum Grants – (C&M) 515 requests, $45,762,853
  • Culture Builds Florida Grants – (CBF) 153 requests, $3,524,096
  • Cultural Facilities Grants – (CF) 47 requests, $15,007,394
  • Cultural Endowment Grants – (CE)  15 requests, $3,600,000

The ASK – LOCAL AREA:

Of the state’s totals, local area requests are:

  • Orange $4,618,080 ($4.6M) for 47 grants comprised of C&M 40/$3,825,247; CBF 4/$93,500; CF 3/$699,333.
  • Lake $611,120 for 8 grants
    – (C&M 4/$284,120; CBF 2/$42,000; CF 2/$285,000)
  • Osceola $695,500 for 5 grants
    – (C&M 4/$195,500; CF, 1/$500,000)
  • Seminole $412,900 for 9 grants
    – (C&M 4/$257,500; CBF 4/$100,000; 1/$55,400)
    TOTAL United Arts/local/ 4-county area: $6,337,600 for 69 grants 

Engaging our legislators: 

  1. Thank them for holding a place for arts support in this challenging year (2020-21) funding of $13.6M, statewide. Let them know what it means to your organization, your community, and overall to the County.
  2. Invite legislators to your events – for either a tour, a performance, or a brief speaking opportunity or a meet&greet with your chair and/or key donors. Or, as a walk-on role in your production!

CONTACTS & CALLS:

  1. Florida Cultural Alliance: Jennifer Jones, executive director; info@flca.net.
    – The Florida Cultural Alliance statewide call is monthly on the 4th Monday at 10am. Next call is Mon, January 25at 10a. (Must register for each Zoom call)
  2. FY22 Contacts for State of FL Government – House-Senate-Local leadership – see
  3. Need more info about Central Florida’s arts advocacy, Arts & Culture Advocacy Day in Tallahassee, or Orange County’s Arts & Cultural Affairs Advocacy Committee, contact Trudy@UnitedArts.cc.

State of Florida Arts Funding 2020-21 (last year):

Updated 6/30/20:

The arts were funded, statewide, with $13.6M. This is approximately half of last year’s funding ($21.25M).

The legislature recommended only one grant line item (of four) for Cultural & Museum Grants, so that held funding for the majority of our local nonprofits, at about 31% of their recommended grant amounts. Unfunded line items were: Cultural Facilities, Endowment, and Culture Builds Florida grants.

 Just the facts:

  • Platform for REQUEST – the ONE-SHEET for 2021 state arts funding – Tallahassee Arts & Culture Advocacy Day, January 2020
  • DCA Ranking and Recommendations:
    – 659 well-vetted, ranked & recommended Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs’ matching grants qualify for $59,849,052 in total state investments under the four DCA-funding categories for 2020-21 state funding. 
    – 41 counties – 61% of Florida’s 67 counties — comprise the recommended 659 total matching grant requests – (County by county listing);
    – 4-county Central Florida — 60 requests for $5,019,441 (platforms by county & request detail)

CONTACTS AT Florida Cultural Alliance and Florida legislature:

  1. Florida Cultural Alliance: Jennifer Jones, executive director; at info@flca.net.
    – The Florida Cultural Alliance statewide call is on the 4th Monday at 10am. Next on Mon, Aug, 24 at 10a.
    –  Florida Cultural Alliance – Advocacy Resource Guide 
  2. FY21 Contacts for State of FL Government – House-Senate-Local leadership
  3. Need more info about Central Florida’s arts advocacy, Arts & Culture Advocacy Day in Tallahassee, or Orange County’s Arts & Cultural Affairs Advocacy Committee, contact Trudy@UnitedArts.cc.

Updated 8/18/20 – tdw
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YEAR 2019-20 FUNDING:

State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs (DCA) arts funding for 2019-20 is:

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