St. Johns County cultural organizations take a hit from governor's veto of arts programs

While many good things emerged from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of the state's $116.5 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, vetoes negatively impacted St. Johns County's cultural and organizations and events, including those in St. Augustine.

According to a news release from the St. Johns County Cultural Council, the legislature typically approves funding of 50% to 100% of the applications submitted.

“Applications are reviewed by a panel of experts, and those scoring 80 or above are recommended for state funding,” the group said. “With the governor’s veto for the first time in modern history – the State of Florida will provide no funding for cultural organizations in FY 2025.”

Nancy Sikes-Kline, the mayor of the City of St. Augustine, described the veto as a shock.

“I don’t think anyone was expecting it,” she said. “There were years when the state’s arts and cultural grant funding was reduced, but those were widely anticipated due to a bad economy.”

On Monday, the Tourist Development Council, which oversees the revenue and expenditures collected by the county’s Tourist Development Tax (a bed tax on tourism), voted to increase the county’s Arts Culture and Heritage Grant budget from about $600,000 last year to $1,388,000 for the upcoming fiscal year.

“This increase in TDC grant funding will provide significant additional support to a majority of organizations that lost state funding this year,” said Christina Parrish, the council’s executive director.

Parrish described the funding as essential for events and sites such as the Lightner Museum to continue programming that attracts visitors to America’s oldest city.

Sikes-Kline underscored the importance of the cultural programs to the community.

“We live in a very special, very old place filled with arts, culture and heritage organizations that celebrate, preserve and strengthen this strong sense of place,” she said. “High quality programming and events benefit our residents, attract visitors, and provide hundreds of jobs that significantly impact the county economically.”

Parrish and Sikes-Kline both noted that funding can be sought elsewhere. According to Sikes-Kline, most of the organizations actively seek additional monies from other grant programs.

“However, grant programs are on an annual cycle with strict deadlines, some of which have already been met, making this a very challenging time for these organizations,” she said.

“Our local cultural organizations would greatly benefit from private and corporate support to offset the deficits caused by the governor’s veto,” Parrish said. “While this will not eliminate the budget deficits resulting from the Governor’s veto, it will allow our ACH organizations to continue to present the high-quality programming and events that bring visitors to St. Johns County each year.”

Parrish added that the TDC makes recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners, which has the final say on expenditures as part of the budget process.

"The BOCC has an opportunity to use TDC funds to help our arts, culture and heritage organizations who have been caught short this year due to the Governor’s veto," concluded Sikes-Kline. "Many of these organizations are volunteers and operate on a tight budget. I think it's a wise use of TDC funding that will go a long way to assist in a difficult year."

Cultural organizations and events include Flagler College; First Coast Opera Inc.; St. Johns County Cultural Council Inc.; First Coast Cultural Center; Limelight Theatre Inc.; Romanza-St. Augustine Inc.; St Augustine Music Festival Inc.; Lightner Museum of Hobbies; St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum Inc.; Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program Inc.; The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of Florida; St. Augustine Ballet Inc.; The St. Augustine Art Association; Friends of Lincolnville Inc.; Latin Community Services Inc.; Gamble Rogers Folk Festival; SEA Community Center; Anniversary to Commemorate the Civil Rights Demonstrations Inc.; St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners.