9 minute read
Arts in Funding Crisis
BY CINDY STOVALL
St. Petersburg enjoys an international reputation as a destination for the arts – a fact reinforced by the recently completed study by Americans for the Arts, which revealed that in the study period, St. Petersburg generated $132 million in economic impact, 46% of which was created by arts organizations spending.
Over 2,100 jobs were created and a large percentage of tourists visited here specifically to attend an arts event. The direct result is that the arts are a significant driver of economic development –from all the dollars spent to operate and taxes raised, to attracting new development and providing a richly resourced home base for established and emerging businesses.
Indeed, the vetoed funds were a huge part of the operating budgets of so many of our arts venues, programs and resources. State funds, for larger organizations, represent fully 10% of their arts operating budget – a huge gap. For smaller organizations, state funds can represent a much larger percentage, making them vulnerable to losing their programs altogether. Educational arts programming, and those providing free programs to underserved communities, are also at high risk. “That’s where we intend to focus our efforts as we work through this,” said Terry Marks, CEO of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance (SPAA). “Small organizations and individual artists will need more support to survive and thrive.”
On June 12, that progress was threatened with the stroke of a pen when Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis vetoed the entirety of the state’s arts funding budget – some $32 million. Approximately $2 million of that state total was requested by St. Petersburg.
Originally, the request was cut by the State Legislature by over 47% to approximately $1 million. Ron DeSantis then cut 100% - ALL of the arts funding. Those funding dollars were intended to come to St. Petersburg, leaving arts organizations, non-profit arts venues, arts education programs, and individual artists in need of grants funding, scrambling to find ways to make up the sudden shortfall.
In recent weeks, several large-scale meetings were called, bringing together stakeholders throughout the St. Petersburg arts community to address the funding crisis and to begin a joint dialogue. The intent is to develop a new level of collaboration that results in a real action plan to mitigate the impact of lost State revenue. “We want to continue nurturing the atmosphere of innovation and risk taking that has made the arts community so successful,” said Margaret Murray, CEO of Creative Pinellas, the county arts agency. “Those affected shouldn’t just be worrying about retaining employees and keeping the lights on.”
The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA) hosted a gathering at the ArtsXchange on July 23, and the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and Creative Pinellas hosted an event at the Palladium on July 31. There was a large turnout at both meetings with leaders from the arts community and city government participating in panel discussions and sharing ideas.
The far-reaching ripple effects of the unexpected state cuts were brought into clarity. An eye-opening example is the potential cancellation of American Stage in the Park productions, which are threatened after almost four decades. The need to develop “creative” solutions is clearly urgent.
Here are just a few of the suggestions brought up at these meetings:
•Increase public awareness as to the cost of sustaining the arts and improve private sector fundraising efforts in the community.
•Improve outreach to non-arts patrons and tourists.
•Increase awareness of philanthropists and develop grants and sponsorships to enhance funding sustainability.
•Have a place at the table with current and potential developers to garner support for the arts.
• Increase the city’s allocation to arts funding from the current .82% to a full 1% of St. Pete’s annual budget. This would increase arts funding from the current $3.2 million to $3.9 million – having a real impact on the shortfall.
Councilmember Gina Driscoll has been a committed advocate of the arts community, and she is leading the call to raise the city’s budget allocation to the arts from .82% to a full 1%. “First, we must take a look at how the current .82% is being allocated and see if any adjustments can be made,” she explains. “Our fiscal year begins October 1, and budget negotiations don’t begin until January, so it may take several cycles to raise the allocation to a full 1%. It is not easy to ask for other programs to reduce their budgets,” Driscoll says, “but this increase is due, so with a lot of negotiation, collaboration, and the sharing of resources, I am confident that we can reach the 1% goal.”
She also asks all stakeholders, art lovers, and concerned citizens to make their voices heard at the open forum at City Council meetings held at City Hall on the first, second, and third Thursdays of each month starting at 9am. “The more voices are heard, the more progress can be made. We must collaborate, link arms, and raise our collective voices,” Driscoll says. “We’re a lot stronger when we all pitch in together.”
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Creative Pinellas, arts agency for Pinellas County, is a significant provider of grants funding for artists and many arts businesses and other arts organizations. They have long cultivated partnerships with public and private entities to initiate a host of arts projects and programming. CEO Margaret Murray has been hard at work in recent months assessing the needs of the Arts community throughout the county, restructuring their grant model, and gathering mega amounts of data to create a Cultural Plan that, in large part, addresses funding needs. “Our new grant structure more equitably allocates funds over all genres of art,” she says, “and our extensive research gave us a clear look at funding needs in the arts. Recommendations from the Cultural Plan will be announced later this Fall.”
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The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance (SPAA), produces two of St. Pete’s most popular arts events – Second Saturday ArtWalk and the SHINE Mural Festival. That’s in addition to its prolific grant activity and other vital arts support programming like the Arts Business Academy.
SHINE had already taken a $25,000 hit from State Cultural Events Funding – even before the newest state cuts, so there was already a shortfall to overcome. ArtWalk is one of the most attended monthly arts events in the city, always free to visitors. “Collaboration, and the sharing of ideas and resources is key,” says CEO, Terry Marks. “SPAA, together with the Downtown Partnership, has already published a Comprehensive Arts Study after listening to over 16,000 voices,” she says. The results can be found on the SPAA website. “Obviously, rigorous private and corporate fundraising has already begun to try and meet the shortfall so there is no interruption in current programming,” she adds. “You can’t be in fundraising if you’re not an optimist.”
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The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA), has been a longtime leader in arts and artist advocacy – building and providing studio space at reasonable rents to fight gentrification, providing a far reaching slate of community arts programming, and creating partnerships to make the arts accessible to all.
Since the June 12 veto, WADA has been highly proactive in meeting the challenge. To date, WADA has actively protested the cuts with multiple public statements and social media posts They created an overview video to educate the public as to the existence and impact of the cuts. They created “Culture Convo” videos and reached out to other arts organizations to share fundraising ideas and began a Go-Fund-Me campaign.
WADA organized the initial 7/23 gathering of St. Pete arts stakeholders, and attended the 8/1 City Council meeting en masse to appeal for the raise in the city arts allocation. In the association’s Monthly Digest, Executive Director Markus Gottschlich stated, “We maintain our steadfast commitment to community enrichment.”
WADA recently created a partnership with the St. Petersburg Housing Authority and will begin a youth arts program for the residents of Jordan Park.
Mentioned earlier, American Stage is undertaking a $500,000 fundraising campaign in an effort to save American Stage in the Park. Thanks to private donations and the support of arts supporting businesses, like long-time sponsor Bank of America, over $100,000 has been raised.
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That seems to be a big part of the game plan for both nonprofit arts organizations like SPAA, Creative Pinellas, and WADA, who provide funding for others, and individual nonprofit arts businesses like The Studio @620, Creative Clay, and the Museum of Fine Arts, for example – all longtime, foundational arts mainstays that have become indispensable to St. Petersburg. Efforts have begun in earnest to increase the number of private partnerships with arts supporting businesses for either one time donations or long term sponsorships. Fundraising drives and events are being devised and implemented.
The overriding concept at the heart of all these efforts is one of collaboration, communication, sharing of ideas and resources, and a strong determination to support the most vulnerable and each other.
So if you have loved visiting galleries, going on ArtWalks, attending seminars, performances, or classes – if you love, admire, or appreciate the arts culture of St. Petersburg, it’s time to show your support with any of the following:
• A donation to the arts non-profit of your choice. All websites make it easy to donate.
• Attend more arts offering, and bring friends – buy tickets and buy art!
• Share your commitment to the arts on social media
• Attend a City Council meeting and make your voice heard.
The success of St. Petersburg to this point has been built on creativity and innovation. That’s exactly how this community will meet this moment.
Cindy Stovall writes about the arts for St. Pete Life. She can be reached at cstovall5@gmail.com
