by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The City’s cultural council hopes a Tuesday audience with Florida’s secretary of state will help Jacksonville’s artistic pursuits claim a larger share of shrinking state revenue.
State grants will be harder to come by this year. The State’s Division of Cultural Affairs received just over $6 million to spend in 2003-04 compared to more than $14 million last year. According to the DCA, the funding cut will mean “much smaller grant awards for Florida’s arts organizations.”
That’s a grim reality for Robert White, the executive director of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville. The council promotes local artists and tries to match them with public funds. In the current economic climate, White said it would be important to make an impression on Secretary of State Glenda Hood Sept. 9, when she visits First Coast Community College’s Advanced Technology Center, housed on the school’s West State Street downtown campus. The secretary of state doubles as the State’s chief cultural officer.
White said Jacksonville has typically lost state cultural funding to artistically rich cities such as Miami. However, with the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art joining the Cummer Museum of Arts & Gardens and what White called “a world-class symphony,” White said the City could be in position to divert grant money north.
“There’s no question, in the past, that the majority of State funds directed toward art and culture have gone to cities in the South,” said White. “But the success of the museum of modern art absolutely makes them [the State] take notice of Jacksonville. It speaks highly not only of ourselves but of cultural pursuits across the state.”
JMoMA was built with the help of a $400,000 State grant. But because of declining State revenues — due largely to a two-year downward trend in tourism following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — lawmakers have taken a tight hold of the State’s money. Hood’s visit is described by the Department of State partly as a fact-finding trip. She will seek input from local cultural groups about what effect the budget cuts will have on their operations.
Grant awards are still pending the governor’s approval, however the preliminary numbers leave little doubt that Duval County organizations will receive far less than requested.
According to a listing of grant awards taken from a Senate appropriations bill, Duval County organizations will receive $320,567 in state funds next year after requesting nearly $1.9 million. The symphony requested $365,000. The state granted a little more than $50,000.
Feedback from the secretary’s visit — Hood will hold six other public meetings across the state — will be incorporated into a report to the governor and State legislative leaders. The input will be used to streamline the DCA’s operations in an attempt to do more with less.
According to the DCA, state funding of cultural pursuits has paid dividends. Tourists who enjoy Florida’s arts spend more on average than other tourists. A 1997 DCA study showed each cultural tourist spending $348.84 on visits while others spent $291.16. The DCA figures show cultural tourists spending $2.9 billion in 1997. That spending created 64,000 jobs and $1.7 billion in wages.