More than three hours of calls from supporters of the arts and Volusia County’s official support of them secured continued funding for a variety of cultural organizations.

In a house packed with patrons of cultural groups, the County Council June 6 listened to a chorus of pleas to not cut off annual grants for the groups.

“It’s great to see this room filled,” County Chair Jeff Brower said, as he looked over the crowd, most of whom were there to speak or cheer for the county’s cultural-grants program.

Brower added the reports of possible reductions or elimination of the grant program had spurred a conversation — indeed, a groundswell — within the county. The prospect of cutting or shelving the cultural-arts spending emerged as a cost-saving proposal amid economic uncertainty.

“How do we improve the arts and culture in Volusia County?” Brower asked. “It’s a program that has to be looked at. … Everyone on this council has received emails. … This meeting so far has been about people working together.”

The term “cultural” spans a range of activities, including music, dance, local live theater, painting, drawing, crafts, sculpture, and historic preservation. 

The cultural-grants program, which began in 1989, is not to be confused with the Volusia ECHO program. ECHO is an acronym for Environmental/Cultural/Historical/Outdoor Recreation, which provides for the acquisition or development of assets that meet any one or more of those categories. The ECHO program is funded by a special voter-approved property tax of 1/5 mill, or 20 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. The ECHO grants may be used only for capital expenses, however, not for overhead or recurring costs.
“ECHO cannot be used for operating [expenses],” Community Services Director Dona Butler said.

Audience participation in the live drama

The turnout and the impassioned arguments turned the tide and preserved the $600,000-plus of grants for the operating expenses of qualifying groups for the foreseeable future.

“Once you cut something, it’s very hard to get it back,” Jennifer Coolidge, of the Florida Cultural Alliance, told the council.

The annual cultural-arts funding now goes to 32 nonprofit organizations, as recommendations by the Cultural Council. The Cultural Council is a nine-member advisory board appointed by the County Council to review and screen funding requests. The actual total, $611,758, was set in 2010, based on a per capita rate of $1.50 for each person then living in Volusia County.

“This has not increased for the past 13 years,” Community Services Director Dona Butler said.

More than 40 people spoke during the public-comment period, and all but one of them defended the grants program or urged the County Council to appropriate more cash for it.

“I have not found anything more powerful than the arts,” Traci Flumer, of the Volusia Community Arts, said, adding the cultural groups provide “an outlet of hope, strength and commitment and a sense of belonging. … My colleagues and I work on fundraising. … Please don’t be quick to do away with a program that brings so much into the county … and the quality of life.”

David Axelrod, a poet who said he is “a mentor for young poets,” likewise urged that the county’s spending on culture continue.

“I think you know of another David who was a poet, King David and the 23rd Psalm,” Axelrod said, reading the well-known passage from the Bible before calling upon the council. “In fact, you are our shepherds. … Thank you for listening, and support the arts.”

Jacqueline Lewis, who formerly worked for AdventHealth as a recruiter of physicians for the corporation’s hospitals in Volusia County, said the local cultural offerings and activities have attracted professionals.

“They chose Volusia for the quality of life,” she added. “We need physicians that are going to come and stay. … They chose to live here because of the arts.”

“When I heard there was $600,000, I thought, ‘Why aren’t there more?’” Georgia Turner, executive director of the West Volusia Tourism Advertising Authority, said, adding the program accounts for only 0.038 percent of the county’s annual operating budget of almost $1.06 billion. “It’s an investment, not a detriment.”

Erick Nielsen, who heads the Barberville Pioneer Settlement, said his attraction and others provide a local economic boost.

“When they come to the Settlement, they spend money,” he said.

The Pioneer Settlement, a living-history exhibit that focuses on life on the Florida frontier, has been in operation since 1976, Nielsen added. 

DeLand’s first family in the spotlight

DeLand Mayor Chris Cloudman likewise added his voice of support for cultural funding.

“I think it’s a worthwhile investment, under $1.50 per year,” he told the County Council.

A short time later, Cloudman’s daughter Isobel stepped up to speak.

“I have had the distinct pleasure of being born and growing up in DeLand. I stand before you to ask you to continue the cultural-arts grants,” she said. “It has made me the young lady that I am today, and I feel it plays a crucial role in the quality of life in Volusia County.”

Speaking for the African American Museum of the Arts in DeLand, Reginald Williams appealed for the continuation of the cultural grants.

“Without this funding this program has provided, the museum probably would have closed its doors,” he said. 

The only one in the audience who spoke out against the cultural-arts funding was Keith Chester, who said he speaks for “the working class” and those paying high taxes.

“We are pricing the working class out of working here,” he said. “We’re really suffering. … Where is our workforce going to come from if we price them out?”

If you can’t beat them, join them

Seeing the size of the audience and its overwhelming position on arts funding, the County Council joined in the show of support. Brower, however, told fellow county officials to seek state funding for the cultural arts.

“These are sources that we should go after,” he told his colleagues and the crowd before them.

Council Member Jake Johansson, who had suggested the County Council end support for cultural-arts groups, agreed.

“Go sit in [state Rep.] Chase Tramont’s office — all of you,” he urged the crowd.

Tramont, R-Port Orange, was elected to represent Florida House District 30 last fall.

Brower acknowledged calls to cut the county’s budget and taxes are, for him, more common than demands to increase spending.

“We’ve got people every single day who complain about the money that is being spent, and ask, ‘Why are you handing money to a nonprofit?’” he noted.

In what seemed ironic to some, Council Member Don Dempsey declared himself a patron of the arts, by recalling his own erstwhile investment in a cultural enterprise in Downtown DeLand.

“It cost a lot of money,” he said, referring to a comedy club that he had started. “Unfortunately, I had to shut down.”

Dempsey had also questioned the need for the county’s funding of cultural groups.

“I appreciate the arts,” he added.

Before the County Council voted unanimously to retain the cultural-arts grants from the budget’s general fund, Brower suggested anew that the grant program be revamped.

“I still want to change the program,” he said. “There are so many needs in this county. … I want to talk about basing the [grant] awards more heavily on merit.”

In the end, the council voted 6-0 to keep the cultural-arts funding at its current level, $611,758, for the coming fiscal year, and to keep the Cultural Arts Council. Council Member David Santiago was absent.

The Cultural Council, however, is defunct because the County Council has not appointed any of the new members to replace the nine whose terms expired earlier this year. The council agreed to make appointments at a later date.

“If we pulled this $611,000, the cultural arts would not go away,” Johansson observed.

For the 2022-23 fiscal year, 32 organizations received money through Volusia County’s cultural art grant program. 

— The African American Museum of the Arts in DeLand — $4,716

— The Art League of Daytona Beach — $8,740

— ArtHaus in Port Orange — $12,778

— Artists’ Workshop of New Smyrna Beach — $9,794

— Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach — $74,303

— Bel Canto Singers of Daytona Beach — $1,672

— Cinematique of Daytona — $11,394

— Daytona Beach Choral Society — $663

— Daytona Beach Symphony Society — $13,597

— Daytona Playhouse — $9,221

— DeLand Naval Air Station — $4,226

— Enterprise Preservation Society — $6,298

— Fall Festival of the Arts DeLand — $15,065

— Florida Surf Film Festival held in New Smyrna Beach — $7,811

— Florida Wing, Commemorative Air Force in DeLand — $6,501

— Gateway Center for the Arts in DeBary — $17,298

— Halifax Historical Society — $10,559

— Heritage Preservation Trust — $9,997

— HUB on Canal in New Smyrna Beach — $39,553

— IMAGES: A Festival of the Arts held in New Smyrna Beach — $13,454

— Little Theatre of New Smyrna Beach — $16,082

— Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum in New Smyrna Beach — $4,199

— Museum of Art – DeLand — $74,919

— Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach — $74,457

— Ormond Beach Historical Society — $16,180

— Ormond Memorial Art Museum — $25,734

— Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts in Barberville — $21,436

— Sands Theatre Center in DeLand — $72,611

— Shoestring Theatre in Lake Helen — $8,115

— Southeast Volusia Historical Society — $9,427

— USA Dance Greater Daytona Chapter #6026 — $3,660

— West Volusia Historical Society — $7,298