DeSantis cuts $32 million for state arts funding
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Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $32 million for arts and cultural initiatives from the 2024-25 state budget — cuts many in South Florida's arts community call unprecedented and unexpected.
Why it matters: This is the first time the governor has cut funding to the arts, a move that jeopardizes many organizations' current operations and future plans.
- "Something like this could literally be the death knell for some organizations, and succeed in doing what COVID could not," Steven Haines, executive director of the Symphony of the Americas, told the Sun Sentinel.
The other side: In a statement to the Palm Beach Post, a DeSantis spokesperson didn't explain the arts cuts beyond saying the governor's vetoes are made "in the best interest of the state of Florida."
- Asked if she understood the governor's motives, GableStage's Bari Newport told Axios: "I don't have time to question. I have to problem-solve."
Zoom in: The state funding cuts will likely place greater strain on Miami-Dade County, one of the largest funders for arts in the country, Newport told Axios.
- "Many of these arts and cultural institutions are already relying heavily on the county to exist."
- Funding from the county and state help organizations like GableStage offer subsidized tickets for the public, she added.
Still, she said, "it's not magically happening. We have to apply for every one of those dollars."
State of play: More than 120 Miami-Dade organizations were impacted by vetoes totaling $6.5 million, per the Sun Sentinel.
- Statewide, it's more than 600.
- In Miami-Dade, cuts will impact everything from the opera, theaters, art museums and education programs to feeding zoo animals.
The bottom line: "It's absolutely unacceptable and uncivilized to not have civic funding from the state for these [organizations]," Newport said.
- It shouldn't be up to citizens to "100% support the very things that define a community and make the state a livable state," she added.