A Far Cry from FDR’s New Deal
By Sheri Leonard Webber
Florida arts groups face significant financial challenges after an unexpected move from the governor’s office—a $32 million veto in arts funding. After the initial shock and outrage in early June, arts organizations across the state are now scrambling to cover budget shortfalls. For some, the end of the fiscal year is right around the corner.
Governor Ronald Dion DeSantis’s (RDD) June veto sparked alarm in more than 600 organizations marking the first time a Florida governor has eliminated nearly all the state’s grant funding for arts and culture. Much of the grant funding comprised crucial financial support for salaries, rent, insurance, utilities, etc. For others, the cuts will result in the immediate loss of arts education programs.
The timing is as baffling as the veto itself. Many Florida arts organizations that weathered COVID-19 closures have finally dug their collective way out of a pandemic-shaped funding hole only to get hit with another funding crisis. The COVID-19 global pandemic had a seismic impact on the arts and culture industries and the last of the American Rescue Plan relief program dollars are trickling to a stop.
Data released by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in March 2022 provided a closer look at the impact that COVID-19 closures had on the arts and cultural sector.1 By the end of 2020, more than half a million jobs in the arts and culture industry—roughly 600,000 employees—were lost. Recovery from that was slow going and hard-won. According to the same data project, revenue earned by performing arts companies in late 2020 doubled in late 2021. So, those companies went from collectively generating a little over $830 million to nearly $2 billion.
Sounds great, right? Not compared to the nearly $13 billion generated by those companies in late 2019. It has been and continues to be a slow roll. If New York City’s performing arts sector was turned upside down and four years later is still struggling to stay afloat, can anyone expect Jacksonville to fare better? Of course not. Support from state and federal grants remains necessary.
