Miami-Dade arts groups worry about future without public funding
Over the summer, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed legislation for more than $30 million in arts grants. And Miami-Dade County Commission cut more than $1 million in available grants from its final budget Thursday night.
If public funding sources disappear, local arts groups worry so will they.
On Friday, CBS News Miami visited one of the nonprofit arts groups in Miami called Arts for Learning. Little kids with big smiling faces danced and walked inside their art studio. Kindergartners and first-graders tapped into their creativity.
"The arts are an incredibly powerful teaching tool," Sheila Womble, the executive director of Arts for Learning, said.
She leads a nonprofit that works to help all children through the arts, working with more than 4,000 kids throughout Miami-Dade County every year.
"I think about the sense of confidence that our programs instill," Womble said. "It's like nothing else."
She fears for the future for arts.
On June 12, DeSantis vetoed all arts grants from the state budget.
Until Thursday night, Miami-Dade County commissioners considered removing $2.5 million in available arts grants.
"We were able to find some dollars to reallocate to put another $1.5 million back in the pot," Miami-Dade County Daniella Mayor Levine Cava said.
It puts more than $24 million in available grants for arts groups in the new budget, with the county relying on private donations to help with the rest.
"When you start seeking only private dollars, you start limiting the access for our residents to be able to afford to come to programs," Womble said. "100% of our programs are free of charge."
CBS News Miami News asked her: "Would you have to change that model if any state or county funding went completely away?"
Womble responded: "We do not want to change that model. It would probably be a reduction in outreach before we would look for a fee-for-service model."
"The arts aren't just fun and fluffy, they really make a difference," Renee Pesci, executive director of The Arts and Business Council of Miami, said.
The Miami-Dade arts industry generates more than $2 billion in economic impact within the county annually.
"To start cutting that, you'll see, you know, repercussions," Pesci said. "Probably going to have to do many programming cuts. I know a lot of theaters in the area are saying that they were waiting to hear about these cuts because they haven't been able to hire their actors for the season."
She said the council created a new initiative to help arts organizations look at the budgets to survive an uncertain future and keep the doors open to the arts.
