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Arts & Culture continued

Almost thinking out loud, she said, “we have to have access
to the executive offices. We were dealing with senators and
representatives mostly and nearly exclusively because that’s
where the budget is built, and that veto is the last thing.
We focus on building up the appropriation as much as we can
so that when it goes to the last part, it’s a balanced budget.
And we hope that we make it past the veto pen, and (the
governor) signs off on it because it’s already balanced.
But we have to look at ourselves and say, ‘Wow, we didn’t
see that coming but why didn’t we see that coming because it
was always possible?”

On the advocacy front, Dunlap believes that local arts groups
should become more engaged – that the membership from
Broward in the FCA is only about 20 and that the majority
of organizations slated to get funding from the state are not
members of the alliance. “Which means that they’re likely
not engaged in the advocacy piece,” he said. For local arts
groups, Dunlap believes that engagement is key. “We can’t
only raise our voices when there’s a crisis, but we should be
engaging those legislators and advocates in the conversation
on a regular basis – and on the local level with our
commissioners. If we’re more engaged on a regular basis, it
may just make it a lot harder for these things to happen.”

Funding Florida’s arts community is a roller coaster ride and,
as just proven, can be struck down by a politician’s whim.
“It is a line item that is subject to the veto because that is the
way it is structured,” said Jones, adding that all arts grants
are funded with non-recurring funds. “I want to acknowledge
how damaging this is to people’s expectations and plans and
their programming, but we do have to look at what can we
do to avoid this next year? How do we get ahead of it?”
There is no reversing the veto, but concerned citizens can
reach out to the governor and legislators to have their
voices heard.
To contact the governor’s office, call (850) 717-9337.
Also, know who your legislators are and how to contact
them. If you aren’t sure who represents your community,
contact Tallahassee for his or her mailing addresses, phone
numbers, social media links, and email address. For the
House,
contact the Clerk’s Office at (850) 717-5400.
For the Senate, contact President Senator Kathleen
Passidomo’s office at (850) 487-5229.
Elizabeth Price as Blanche DuBois and Tim Davis as Stanley Kowalski in New City
Players’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” opening July 13 at Island City Stage. It was
the first year the Broward County theater company had applied for state funding.
This story was produced by Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (Photo by Eric Campbell)
(BAJA), an independent journalism program of the Broward
County Cultural Division. Visit ArtsCalendar.com for more
stories about the arts in South Florida.

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