More than two weeks after he vetoed funding for more than 600 arts and culture grants in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered an explanation — citing one production at a festival that he said made the entire event sexually oriented — and depicting himself as a guardian of taxpayers’ priorities and sensibilities.
DeSantis pointed to one program put on by one grant recipient, a “fringe festival,” which was in line to receive $7,369 in state matching money as the reason he vetoed $32 million of arts and culture money for organizations throughout the state.
Speaking Thursday, DeSantis said there was insufficient oversight and control of the state money that had been going to such organizations. All the grants he vetoed had been screened and vetted by a panel that included people he appointed and also approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature.
“Well, if you look at, so this is money that would go and we didn’t have control over how it was being given. So you have your tax dollars being given in grants to things like the Fringe Festival, which is like a sexual festival where they’re doing all this stuff,” DeSantis said.
“And it’s like how many of you think your tax dollars should go to fund that? Not very many people would do that. And so when I see money being spent that way, I have to be the one to stand up for taxpayers and say, ‘You know what, that is an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.’”
He didn’t provide specifics.
In response to a request for details, DeSantis’s deputy press secretary forwarded an image and description of one production at the Tampa International Fringe Festival. Tampa Fringe was in line for $7,369 of the $32 million in state grant money DeSantis vetoed.
This is the description:
“Tampa’s favorite wacky playwright Christen Hailey births another hilariously sexy mystery, featuring characters and locales from the Perilousverse: Captain Havoc returns to Cockroach Bay after years of service flying the Jizz Jet for the Secret Queen of Tampa. But there’s no rest for the wicked when a greedy developer wants to tear down the whole town and build a super kinky swinging senior center.
“Will Captain Havoc and the Big-Titty Bog Witches save the day? FAFO!”
Tampa Fringe, describes itself as a 10-day festival that includes a range of performances, from someone ranting about the rising price of gas to a new musical to a gospel soloist.
The Tampa Fringe website indicated there were two performances of the show that offended DeSantis, on June 15 and 16, at a 40-seat theater. Tickets cost $13 each.
Arts Council
DeSantis commented in response to a question at a news conference in Auburndale after he announced some state transportation funding. At the same time, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture was meeting via video conference.
The 15-member council is made up of members appointed by DeSantis and the Senate president and House speaker, both Republicans.
The Council is in charge of the extensive vetting of grant applications and recommended to the Legislature all of the recipients of grants that ultimately were vetoed. The House and Senate then reduced the recommended amounts and included them in the state budget.
Council members said the screening process is lengthy; organizations around the state recently submitted their proposals for funding in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2025.
DeSantis’ comments indicated dissatisfaction with the Council’s performance, based on how the money is spent. He said he wants changes.
“The Legislature needs to reevaluate how that’s being done. You know, we don’t need to say that somebody that’s working hard is paying taxes. I can go to you and say, hey, we’ve got a very small budget compared to our state’s population. We have a low tax burden all this. But this transportation, these, these roads are important. I can sell that. Education is important. I can sell that. Preserving our natural resources is important. I can sell that. I can’t sell the Fringe Festival to taxpayers. Nor would I want to try to sell the Fringe Festival to taxpayers.”
At the Council meeting, DeSantis appointee Carroll Hanley Goggin, of Winter Park, said she’s been contacted by many people wanting to know what happened and why. She said the applications were vetted extensively and recipients are required to provide metrics showing the results of the government spending.
“I’m a little frustrated. I know we need to look forward,” she said, adding that she was both “surprised” and “a little baffled by (the veto), and would like to know a little bit more myself as well.”
Sandra Mortham, a former state representative and former Florida Secretary of State, told fellow Arts and Culture Council members “obviously the governor felt strongly about this.”
Lisa Burgess, another DeSantis-appointed member of the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, disagreed with his decision in a weekend interview with WPLG-Ch. 10.
“I’d like to state that while I’m a supporter of Governor DeSantis and I voted for him, and I do think he’s doing a great job with the state, nobody gets it right 100% of the time, and I do think he got this decision wrong,” Burgess said. “We were shocked that the funding was cut so drastically.”
Burgess, the owner of New River Fine Art, a gallery on Las Olas Boulevard, could not be reached this week by phone or email, and did not appear to be participating in Thursday’s council meeting.
DeSantis appointed Burgess to the Council on Arts and Culture in 2020. On June 7, DeSantis announced he was reappointing her for a second term.
Veto surprise
DeSantis vetoed the money on June 12 — just 20 days before the July 1 start of the state’s fiscal year when the organizations believed their grants would start flowing.
The elimination of the $32 million in arts and culture grants was part of the $949.6 million he vetoed from the $116.5 billion state budget for the new fiscal year. He cut just enough to bring the total of the new budget below the level of the current year’s projected spending.
DeSantis boasted about keeping spending flat, and what he projected as $17 billion in state reserves.
David Jobin, president and CEO of The Our Fund Foundation, said the state’s healthy reserves shows the arts and culture veto was unnecessary.
“The money’s there. This is not a poor state,” he said.
The state Legislature passed the budget continuing the arts and culture money on March 8; affected organizations said they didn’t expect the veto that came three months later.
“Clearly this took us by surprise. We had no sort of forewarning that this was going to happen,” said David Lawrence, president and CEO of the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.
Phillip Dunlap, director of the Broward County Cultural Division, said via email that the state reduction “was a surprise and is without precedent.”
Community response
The Our Fund Foundation is raising money for eight South Florida groups that are largely LGBTQ oriented with the goal of making them whole by giving them the same amount they would have received from the state.
Jobin said Our Fund Foundation decided soon after the veto was announced that the LGBTQ community should take collective action.
“We’re tapping people in South Florida who have an appreciation for the arts to, frankly, make his action null and void,” Jobin said. “We’re going to fill that gap for LGBTQ organizations, and they’re not going to suffer from this act.”
Our Fund is asking for contributions to support the lost state grant money that would have gone to ArtsUnited, Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida; Island City Stage; Plays of Wilton; South Florida Pride Concert Band; Stonewall National Museum, Library & Archives; Thinking Cap Theatre; and the World AIDS Museum.
Each would have received from $5,687 to $42,300.
Jobin said the $170,500 goal would cover the vetoed total for the eight organizations. Our Fund set a July 31 deadline; eight days after it first put out the word about the effort, Jobin said more than half the desired total had been raised.
“We’re an LGBTQ community foundation” with a mission “to make South Florida the most livable and thriving place in the country for LGBTQ people,” Jobin said. “When we say thriving, South Florida has the most vibrant LGBTQ arts scene in the country. There’s no city in the country — not New York, not San Francisco — that has the same number of LGBTQ theaters, that has the same number of LGBTQ music and chorus groups,” Jobin said.
Jobin said philanthropic organizations shouldn’t have to make up for cuts in state funding. “This is a unique situation because the agencies were told the money was coming,” he said. “These dollars were put into their budgets.”
Many arts organizations, from big-name brands to small theater and choral groups, have been emailing ticket buyers and financial supporters asking them to take a range of actions, from buying season tickets to increasing their contributions.
Dunlap said he’s seen efforts by individual organizations attempting to raise money, but said he’s unaware of any other broader efforts like the one from Our Fund Foundation.
Going forward
Many in the arts world said they want to focus on attempting to get grant funding included in the next state budget, for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2025. State Rep. Chip LaMarca, the only Republican state legislator from Broward County, said in a recent interview he would support that objective.
Mortham, one of the Council members, urged people to look to the future “as opposed to necessarily looking backwards.”
“We’re calling for a measured response. As devastating as the news is, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that the Legislature approved funding. And this was an action that took place in an election year,” Lawrence said. “And the arts are often a political football, and it seems that we have landed in this space again here.”
Lawrence said that the initial response from his and other arts and cultural organizations is to concentrate on positive messages to show why funding should come in future state budgets. He said that includes telling people — and lawmakers — that arts are important to the economy, to education, community revitalization and tourism. “These are the messages that we’ll be lifting up as we move forward.”
“Unfortunately we got caught up in election-year politics, I believe. So our task will be to reengage with those legislators, make sure they understand the impact of these cuts, and reinforce with them the importance of arts and culture moving forward,” Lawrence said.
Political heat
The arts and culture veto has received support on social media. Anonymous posts have applauded the cuts, especially to LGBTQ-related organizations.
“Over 40 publicly funded art and cultural centers in Broward today, but one lousy gun range.
And the left is blowing a gasket over less funding for the arts? We built and maintained the buildings … you fill them up,” one post said.
Another objected to funding for the South Florida Pride Wind Ensemble, which rebranded last year as the Pride Concert Band. “The GOP way in the rest of the country is to win elections, then fund your opponents. Not in Florida. They can get their funding from donors, not me.”
One person wrote that supporters of the pride band are “more than welcome to fund it” themselves.
Jobin faulted DeSantis, who he said ignores the economic impact of spending on arts, and who he said is politically motivated.
“It’s short-sighted. But what do we expect from a politician who wasted $168 million to finish nearly dead last in the primary? This is what we expect from him,” Jobin said.
Jobin was referring to DeSantis’s ill-fated candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination and suggested the veto was part of a strategy appeal to GOP voters for another attempt in 2028.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.