Florida governor Ron DeSantis slashed more than $32m in art and culture grants from next year’s state budget, effectively eliminating most of the state’s financial resources available for the arts. The legislature had already approved the funds in the form of two grants: $26m for one that supports cultural and museum programming, and $6m for another for building projects.
The cuts are a small part of the nearly $1bn in line items that DeSantis vetoed before signing the budget last week, but art and cultural institutions across Florida say losing those grants will pose an immense challenge.
“It’s a huge disappointment and a quandary,” Michael Tomor, the executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art, told The Tampa Bay Times. “We are all unclear as to why this happened.”
Tomor said the vetoes shocked the museum, which had anticipated receiving $570,500 from the state during the 2024-25 fiscal year thanks to state grants. The Tampa Museum of Art planned to use the funds for a building expansion project and exhibition education programmes, he told The Tampa Bay Times.
“These aren’t huge amounts of money, but they were extremely meaningful towards what we’re trying to accomplish for the community,” he said.
In Orange County, for instance, DeSantis's veto effectively annulled $1.95m in funding for local arts organisations, including the Orlando Museum of Art and Orlando Philharmonic, according to Florida Politics.
“We’ve been through ups and downs, and of course, we had Covid then we had to shut down, so it’s not as though we’re not unfamiliar with crisis and having to regroup and restart,” Roger Blauvelt, the board chair of the Winter Park Playhouse in Orlando, told Florida Politics. “This isn’t like that […] it just kind of smacks of, I don’t know, underhandedness coming at the last minute. Everybody was blindsided." He added: "Where do you cut back your expenses? Employees? May you cut a show out?”
DeSantis did not comment on why he chose to slash art and culture funding, but said he wanted to spend less money than last year and that he decided to cut some budget items he didn’t believe were “appropriate for state tax dollars”, according to the The Tampa Bay Times.
”DeSantis is taking his war on culture to a new level. This decision will not only devastate the arts but add to his legacy of censorship and disregard for art, literature and knowledge,” Katie Blankenship, the director of pro-freedom of expression non-profit PEN America's Florida office, said in a statement. “Museums, art training programmes, theatres and other culture centres are vital to communities not just for the economic benefits they offer, but as instruments of democracy. The arts help people open themselves to new ideas, challenge their thinking and learn to empathise with perspectives other than their own.”
The Florida budget for the year to come, accounting for DeSantis's vetoes, totals $116.5bn.