The Florida Legislature recently approved a $114.5 billion budget for 2026-2027.
The budget includes $65.9 million in arts and culture funding. There is good news and bad news for Southwest Florida arts venues and programs.
The arts funding total is divided into two categories or buckets.
The first is for Cultural Facilities Programs. It designates $38.3 million for projects that build or renovate museums, theaters and other cultural spaces.
Two local venues will benefit from some of that money. Venice Theatre, still rebuilding after its main stage was destroyed in Hurricane Ian in 2022, will receive $250,000 toward turning its temporary Raymond Center theater into a long-planned education facility and the Opera Naples Luciano Pavarotti Foundation Arts Center being built in Naples has been allocated $1.1 million.
Among other projects included in this category are $9.5 million for a new library in Hardee County ($9.5 million), the Village of Indiantown Seminole Inn and Seminole Tribe Museum ($8 million), the Hillsborough County African American Arts and Cultural Center ($5 million), the Elie Wiesel Exhibition and Learning Center at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg ($2.5 million), a Florida Orchestra facility project ($500,000), the Panhandle Heritage Village in Blountstown ($225,000) and enhancements to the Tampa Firefighters Museum ($160,000).
The second category or bucket is for general program grants (also known as cultural and museum grants). This bucket includes $20 million, supplemented by an additional $3.1 million in Culture Builds Florida grants. However, this is less than half of the $51.9 million in general program grants that the Florida Council on Arts and Culture recommended earlier this year to fully fund amounts sought by the 563 arts organizations that received a score of 95 or more on their applications.
The council’s recommendations are reviewed by the Secretary of State before they go to the Florida Legislature. Secretary of State Cord Byrd narrowed the number of recipient organizations from 562 to 121.
Of the 121, only 16 arts organizations are in Southwest Florida:
- Art League of Marco Island, Inc. — Collier — $100,000
- Artis—Naples, Inc. — Collier — $150,000
- Asolo Theatre, Inc. — Sarasota — $150,000
- Barrier Island Group for the Arts, Inc. — Lee — $150,000
- Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs — Lee — $150,000
- EnsembleNEWSRQ — Sarasota — $40,000
- Florida Arts, Inc. — Lee — $150,000
- Florida Repertory Company, Inc. — Lee — $150,000
- Florida Studio Theatre, Inc. — Sarasota — $150,000
- Gulfshore Playhouse, Inc. — Collier — $150,000
- Naples Concert Band, Inc. — Collier — $23,820
- Ringling Museum – Sarasota - $150,00
- Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Inc. — Sarasota — $150,000
- Sarasota Pops Orchestra, Inc — Sarasota — $90,000
- The Hermitage Artist Retreat, Inc. — Sarasota — $150,000
- The Naples Players, Inc. — Collier — $150,000
- The Venice Symphony, Inc. — Sarasota — $150,000
The total amount to be paid to the 121 arts organizations comes to $12.543 million. The remaining $7.543 million will be placed in reserve for payment in a second round of awards to recipients who scored below 95 on their applications. The reserve could be used to fully fund grants for a small number of those organizations or provide partial funding to a larger group.
“That $20 million investment reflects the hard work of arts advocates from across the state, including United Arts Collier, and the legislators who championed it,” wrote Elysia Dawn, CEO of Naples-based United Arts Collier, which has had to eliminate programs in recent years that once provided free arts education for 1,000 children each year, art therapy for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and art therapy for veterans. “We thank them for their continued support of Florida's arts and culture sector. At the same time, the reduction from the $51.9 million recommended for cultural and museum grants to a fraction of that amount is meaningful and will be felt across communities statewide.”
Jennifer Jones is the executive director of the Florida Cultural Alliance, which lobbies for arts organizations. Given that Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed all art funding in 2024 and only approved $39 million last year, she thinks the $65.9 million amount for 2026 is a win.
“It’s been a good year for art advocacy, with the decisionmakers hearing their constituency,” she said.
Many arts organizations are not convinced.
For example, Florida awarded $18.3 million for cultural and museum grants last year, with $15.8 million being distributed to arts organizations that received a score of 95 points or higher out of a possible 100 on their applications. [An additional $1.5 million was set aside for lower-ranked groups, and $1 million was approved to fund programs associated with this year’s America 250 celebration.] So, the $12.4 million allocated to arts organizations this year is actually $3.4 million less than qualifying arts organizations received last year.
Just as alarming is the realization that the increase in category 1 (Cultural Facilities Programs) funding and the decrease in category 2 (general program) grants represents a structural shift that empowers lawmakers to direct money into pet capital and arts infrastructure projects at the expense of operational funding for qualifying nonprofit arts organizations. These projects are known as “sprinkles” and give lawmakers the latitude to favor donors and political supporters.
The selection process has likewise been politicized by granting the Secretary of State ad hoc power to determine the ultimate amount and identity of grant recipients. For example, Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota had a ranking of 97.5, Embracing Our Differences had a ranking of 96 and the Sarasota Film Festival was ranked at 95.5. None were on Secretary Byrd’s list even though their scores were equal to or higher than the 95.5 received by The Pops Orchestra.
In Sarasota, 19 organizations that were recommended for grants by the Florida Council will have to wait, along with hundreds of others across the state, to see if they will get a share of the $7.5 million secondary allocation. This group includes Embracing Our Differences, Sarasota Opera, Sarasota Orchestra, Sarasota Players, Selby Botanical Gardens, Venice Theatre and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. Each qualified through the application process for $150,0000.
Two in Charlotte County were also left off Byrd’s initial list.
Twenty-one more were sidelined in Lee and Collier counties, including the Alliance for the Arts, Gulfcoast Symphony and Gulfshore Opera.
Even though the Legislature approved the budget on May 29, the arts organizations that received grant awards cannot yet breathe easy. That’s because under Florida law, the Governor has the right to veto all or any of the allocations approved by the Legislature. Hence, it remains to be seen how much of the $65.9 million in arts and cultural funding survives the Governor’s line-item veto power.
Gov. DeSantis is expected to sign off on the final budget or make changes by July 1.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
