by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
One of the line items Mayor John Peyton has identified in the City’s proposed 2009-10 budget that would have to be stricken should the proposed property tax increase not be enacted by City Council is the Cultural Services Grant program. Arts and culture providers big and small have been supported by the City for years and the loss of that support is a big concern for the organizations and the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, which is charged with disbursing the peoples’ money to those organizations.
“The City’s modest investment in arts and culture yields a tremendous amount of economic impact,” said Robert Arleigh White, executive director of the Cultural Council.
The organization is in favor of Peyton’s “Fix It Now” initiative and has a link to the tax increase proposal’s Web site on its home page — www.culturalcouncil.org.
Last year $2.5 million in Cultural Service Grants funded by taxpayers were utilized by 26 nonprofits including the Jacksonville Symphony Association, the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville and WJCT Public Broadcasting. Those higher-profile providers weren’t the only cultural outlets the City supported last year. The list also includes organizations like the Jacksonville Historical Society, Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre and the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus among others.
White said the Cultural Council’s philosophy when evaluating an arts organization seeking City funds is based on what that organization can return to the city.
“When I talk to the City Council about Cultural Service Grants I don’t talk about ballet dancers or flute players or painters,” said White. “I talk about economic impact. I talk about Downtown development. I talk about tourism and other things that are good for Jacksonville.”
The Cultural Council has also changed the way grant applications are evaluated when it comes to public funding. Organizations are measured not only by what they provide in terms of art, but also by how they conduct business.
“If an organization accepts money from the taxpayers, they take on a responsibility to manage it efficiently to produce the maximum cultural impact,” said White.
He also said when you consider the City’s total proposed budget of $993.8 million the investment of $3 million in arts and culture (.3 percent) is a small price for a big dividend. Losing the City’s support would negatively impact much more than about two dozen nonprofit organizations.
“The potential loss far outstrips the modest investment that yields dynamic outcomes,” said White.
Visit Jacksonville’s task is to market the city as a destination for tourists and its President and CEO John Reyes is also concerned about the negative impact of not having a thriving cultural element to sell to potential visitors.
“Arts and culture measures the sophistication of a city,” he said. “It’s one of the things that attracts visitors as well as new residents and businesses.”
Cultural Council deputy executive Director Amy Crane agreed.
“Our city has the stature of being an arts presence,” she said. “When companies are looking to open new offices two things they look for are education and cultural amenities. We’re trying to build a city with higher-wage jobs and if we don’t support the arts we could potentially be losing jobs.”
She also believes eliminating City funding for the arts would have an effect on the community that would be felt for years.
“Take the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra alone,” she said, “More than 60,000 children attend their programs each year. The reality is if we want to develop a culturally literate population and workforce we must support the arts. Education and outreach is very important and it takes money.”
Last year the Cathedral Arts Project received a City Cultural Service Grant in the amount of $84,392. CAP provides after-school arts programs for underserved children with an annual budget of $865,000, said Director of Development Jennifer Douglas.
The organization works closely with Duval County Public Schools to provide after-school arts programs that can become especially important when public school arts faculty and classes are eliminated.
“We work closely with school principals. Our programs fill the gap when DCPS cuts arts programs. If a school loses its visual arts teacher, we send a visual arts instructor. If a school loses its music teacher, we send a music instructor,” said Douglas.
When the State reduced the organization’s funding CAP received each year through the “Ounce of Prevention” program, Douglas said curriculum had to be reduced, instructors (local artists using the income from CAP to help support themselves) were no longer hired and students were unable to take advantage of the arts programs.
“The funding cut from the State caused us to lose 14 programs last December affecting about 200 children,” she said. “If we were to lose the City money on top of the State support, we wouldn’t have to close down but we would have to pare down even more substantially.”
White said another concern he has is that when people hear that the Cultural Council is getting $3 million from the City, they may not understand that the money is divided among qualifying arts organizations to directly support more than 900 jobs as well as provide educational opportunities and an estimated economic impact of $69 million each year.
“We don’t hang the exhibit. We don’t play the instruments or mount the play,” said White. “What the Cultural Council does is provide competent, considered stewardship of the public’s money.”
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