Scott Maxwell:
Florida guts arts despite big budget.
The amount of money Florida dedicates to arts and culture is already minuscule. How minuscule? Imagine 160 bowling lanes. The amount spent on the Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs would constitute a single pin. We are talking 1 out of 1,600. Or about one-15th of 1 percent. It’s a fraction so small it doesn’t even constitute a rounding error.
Yet this year, the Florida Legislature decided that was too much.
Despite passing a record-high budget, legislators gutted funding for Cultural Affairs — which helps support theaters, museums and school programs throughout the state.
Tourism got full funding for advertising. Prison spending went up. So did the budget for the governor’s office.
But the budget for Cultural Affairs was cut by a third — from $50 million to $33 million … as part of an $82 billion budget.
Shock waves are being felt throughout the state.
As the Orlando Sentinel recently reported, the Orlando Shakespeare Theater had to scrap one of its planned offerings. United Arts of Central Florida announced that funding for field trips will be cut.
Similar cuts are happening at arts and cultural organizations from the Panhandle to the Keys.
Yet the reaction from Tallahassee and the state’s business community has been largely indifferent. Business leaders stormed the Capitol when they thought legislators might cut their spending on corporate incentives and sponsoring European soccer teams for tourism promotion.
But when money was gutted for programs back home — programs that make this state a better place to live — they just shrugged.
I could write an entire column about the value of the arts. Every great society has invested in them.
The arts make people think. They enlighten. Exposing students to the arts has been proved to raise their GPAs, improve attendance and boost self-esteem.
“You can see the difference,” said Flora Maria Garcia, the president of United Arts. “They want to come to school. Parents get more involved. It sparks creative thinking and critical thinking.”
We spend 75 times as much on prison cells — more than $2 billion worth every year. Think about that.
“The arts can inspire children who live in horrible situations,” Garcia said. “They help make something beautiful and can bring joy to their lives.”
Still, I’ve written enough newspaper columns — and perused enough online message boards — to know some people don’t really care much about joy or critical thinking. They care only about the bottom line. Fine. Then you folks should know that investing in the arts is also a financially sound move.
Don’t take it from me. Take it from the state itself.
Gov. Rick Scott’s Department of State sent out a news release just last week headlined: “Florida De-
partment of State Highlights $4.68 Billion Economic Impact of Arts and Culture in Florida.”
The release went on to say the arts in Florida were responsible for 32,366 full-time jobs.
Yet this year, legislators decided to cut that jobs- and soulnurturing investment from 0.06 percent to 0.04 percent … to one-25th of 1 percent.
I sent a note to the Florida Chamber of Commerce, asking if they cared. I did not get a response.
Interestingly, the business community touts arts and culture when it’s convenient. In fact, Visit Florida effectively used cultural attractions as props in its PR campaign to keep the tourism subsidies flowing. It claimed tourism subsidies helped small museums and cultural attractions.
And those attractions dutifully played the part of stooges, begging for the tourism subsidies to continue. Well, it worked. The subsidies for for-profit tourism firms are still flowing while the grants to nonprofit museums are being slashed.
Also, keep this in mind: Most arts groups raise the majority of what they spend themselves. Public funding is just a tiny piece of the pie — less than 10 percent, for instance, of the Shakespeare Theater’s annual budget.
Most revenues come from ticket sales and private donors. Government has traditionally played just a tiny role, investing since the days of ancient Greece.
But here in Florida, lawmakers are cutting that tiny role and making it even tinier.
“The thing that always kills me,” Garcia said, “is that they act like this is a handout. It’s not. It’s an investment. We give back ten times what is given to us in public support.”
The state’s own economic analysis seems to show that, which is why we should invest more in arts and culture — not less.