Girls in tutus waiting backstage at a Ballet Academy, one of the many types of art programs that lost funding with Governor Ron DeSantis’s cultural grants veto.
Image credit: Kazuo ota on Unsplash

Among the various stages upon which conservative interests are waging a culture war against perceived sources of liberal ideology—curricula at all levels of education; private-sector diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; transgender rights; access to abortion and, more recently, in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, to name a few—another front may have just opened up: the public funding of the arts.

This past June, nearly 700 organizations receiving arts funding from the state of Florida saw their budgets cut when Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed $32 million in cultural grants from the state budget. The move effectively wiped out the Sunshine State’s support for the arts.

The Republican governor only later suggested that the unexpected move, which jeopardizes not only the future of the affected organizations but also the state’s tourism economy, represented another maneuver in the cultural battles for which he has gained fame.

The move effectively wiped out the Sunshine State’s support for the arts.

At a June 27 press conference, DeSantis said he slashed the arts and culture grants because some of that funding went to support “fringe festivals”—events that showcase a wide variety of offbeat art and performance, sometimes including drag shows and other adult content.

DeSantis derided the events as “sexual” and inappropriate, drawing the ire of LQBTQ+ organizations and festival organizers.

“The governor issued statements in defense of cutting all funding for arts and culture in the state of Florida by saying that Fringe Festivals are ‘sexual festivals where they do all this stuff,’ and that they shouldn’t receive funding,” the organizers of Tampa’s Fringe Festival said in a statement. “This is a gross mischaracterization of what the Tampa International Fringe Festival is, and what Fringe Festivals all over the world do.”

But the controversy over “fringe” art, while eliciting headlines, could itself be seen as a sideshow: only a small portion of the $32 million vetoed went to the four fringe festivals that call Florida home.

According to the Palm Beach Post, 51 organizations in Palm Beach County alone lost funding as a result of DeSantis’ veto (no fringe festivals are held in the area).

“This is a gross mischaracterization of…what Fringe Festivals all over the world do.”

Among the organizations losing a combined $3.1 million funding in Palm Beach County: Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center, Ballet Palm Beach, the Boca Raton Symphonia, and the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary.

“This decision is a big blow for our plans and stability. It creates a cash flow crisis where those engaged in continuous work may not be offered roles or payment,” Aldeide Delgado, the cofounder and director of the Women Photographers International Archive in Miami, told the social justice news website Prism.

The archive, known by the acronym WOPHA, promotes women and nonbinary photographers. DeSantis’ veto cost the organization $11,750, according to Prism.

Arts as a Public Good

“The arts are not a nicety. The arts are a necessity.”

Kelly Barsdate, the chief program and planning officer for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, or NASAA, said cuts to arts programs have grave implications for communities.

“The arts are not a nicety. The arts are a necessity,” Barsdate told NPQ. “The arts help people and places to thrive. And so, there’s a vested public interest and public benefits that accrue from a healthy, thriving arts sector. So, for example, a $43 million investment in the Division of Arts and Culture in Florida yields a $5.8 billion economic footprint for the nonprofit arts sector in the state of Florida….It supports more than 90,000 full-time jobs. More than $3 billion in household income.…So, there’s an economic benefit to investing in the arts.”

Barsdate also noted that arts programs help children succeed in school and in life, that they “strengthen social cohesion” within a community and reduce isolation, and that they even offer health benefits, like lessening the risk of cognitive decline.