From "The Hobbit" at Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre
Credit Fort Lauderdale Children's Theatre
http://news.wjct.org - The Actors' Playhouse executive
director Barbara Stein says most of the Coral Gables theater's paid
performers are from South Florida.
“We hire some people out of New York, too, but our goal is to hire as many capable and qualified for each production Florida based actors that we can,” Stein says.
The Playhouse sits on a historic site where an old movie house was converted into a performing arts center. It became the catalyst for Coral Gables’ downtown redevelopment. Now, it’s eligible for a $150,000 cultural affairs grant from the state. Stein says the money will help produce shows with cultural significance, like the musical "Ragtime."
“One
of the cultures represented in the show is the early black-American
culture,” Stein says. “The show’s being presented not only to the
general public, but to school performances during Black History Month.”
The Florida Legislature approved over $43 million in the next state budget just for the arts.
That’s almost a fourfold increase from the current budget, according to Michael Spring. He directs the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and chairs the Florida Cultural Alliance.
“This amount would be the largest state arts budget ever enacted,” Spring said. “The last budget that we had that was even near this was back in 2006 when the Legislature passed a budget of about $33 million.”
Hundreds of groups are eligible for grants from the state, and nearly a quarter of them are located in Miami-Dade County. Spring says the state grant money leads to all kinds of jobs ranging from stage carpenters to museum curators.
“The arts employ more than 22,000 full-time workers right here in our community,” Spring says. “One of our arts organization’s directors came into my office, and she said, 'I just have to tell you that we were just having a meeting to announce layoffs of staff members in my organization, and then this news came through about the state Legislature and the arts, and it will forestall our having to lay off people.'”
Avoiding those layoffs may depend on Gov.
Rick Scott. He has line-item veto power and could choose to cut the
arts budget, although he accepted all of the Legislature’s grant
recommendations last year.
Spring says “if the Governor approves this budget, Florida will have one of the largest arts budgets in the nation."
The Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre is eligible for a $76,000 grant to help with stage productions and bolster community outreach projects.
“Some of the programs we work on are working with families that are going through a terminal illness or health crisis and using the arts to communicate and celebrate the time that they do have together,” executive artistic director Janet Erlick said. “We do a lot of work with schools for literacy improvement and anti-bullying.”
She sees a great economic engine in the arts.
“The numbers -- if you look at groups that are wonderful at tracking that kind of thing, like Florida Cultural Alliance or Americans For the Arts – show a return on every dollar invested somewhere on a minimum end of like $5 and all the way up to $22 or more,” Erlick says.
“In terms of putting money into something and especially taxpayers money that has to be guarded and stewarded in a very careful way, I think there’s very little that will give that level of return on the investment of a dollar.”
Gov. Scott has until early June to analyze the budget and decide whether to veto any of it, including arts funding.
“We hire some people out of New York, too, but our goal is to hire as many capable and qualified for each production Florida based actors that we can,” Stein says.
The Playhouse sits on a historic site where an old movie house was converted into a performing arts center. It became the catalyst for Coral Gables’ downtown redevelopment. Now, it’s eligible for a $150,000 cultural affairs grant from the state. Stein says the money will help produce shows with cultural significance, like the musical "Ragtime."
The Florida Legislature approved over $43 million in the next state budget just for the arts.
That’s almost a fourfold increase from the current budget, according to Michael Spring. He directs the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and chairs the Florida Cultural Alliance.
“This amount would be the largest state arts budget ever enacted,” Spring said. “The last budget that we had that was even near this was back in 2006 when the Legislature passed a budget of about $33 million.”
Hundreds of groups are eligible for grants from the state, and nearly a quarter of them are located in Miami-Dade County. Spring says the state grant money leads to all kinds of jobs ranging from stage carpenters to museum curators.
“The arts employ more than 22,000 full-time workers right here in our community,” Spring says. “One of our arts organization’s directors came into my office, and she said, 'I just have to tell you that we were just having a meeting to announce layoffs of staff members in my organization, and then this news came through about the state Legislature and the arts, and it will forestall our having to lay off people.'”
Spring says “if the Governor approves this budget, Florida will have one of the largest arts budgets in the nation."
The Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theatre is eligible for a $76,000 grant to help with stage productions and bolster community outreach projects.
“Some of the programs we work on are working with families that are going through a terminal illness or health crisis and using the arts to communicate and celebrate the time that they do have together,” executive artistic director Janet Erlick said. “We do a lot of work with schools for literacy improvement and anti-bullying.”
“The numbers -- if you look at groups that are wonderful at tracking that kind of thing, like Florida Cultural Alliance or Americans For the Arts – show a return on every dollar invested somewhere on a minimum end of like $5 and all the way up to $22 or more,” Erlick says.
“In terms of putting money into something and especially taxpayers money that has to be guarded and stewarded in a very careful way, I think there’s very little that will give that level of return on the investment of a dollar.”
Gov. Scott has until early June to analyze the budget and decide whether to veto any of it, including arts funding.
Article found here
This was great news for the citizens of the State of Florida. As a member of the Council on Arts and Culture I know first hand what projects and organizations are getting funds under this budget.
Over
the past 4 years I have had the privilege to get to know the many fine
not for profit cultural organizations in our State and I can assure everyone
these are important organizations that significantly contribute to our
fellow citizens' quality of life.
The
DCA’s grant process in the State of Florida is a model for the rest of
the Country. The projects and organizations that are awarded grant
funds have been thoroughly reviewed and represent real needs and shovel
ready jobs. The projects awarded are properly budgeted, have timelines
with benchmarks for success and have demonstrated how the completed
project will positively impact the culture and economy of the State of
Florida. Most of the projects are to update and improve existing
facilities or build new facilities that will be used every day by the
communities they serve. These funds will stay in the communities by
going to plumbers to update bathrooms, electricians to repair outdated
lighting systems and construction crews to repave parking lots and build
new centers. The grant monies are required to be matched by private
funds by at least 2:1 to maximize their impact. This private backing is
a testament to the value these organizations bring to their
communities.
Arts funding was at an all-time low just four years ago and we ranked 49th in
State arts funding per capita . With this budget request Florida will
regain its stature and move back into the top 5 in States arts funding
per capita.
This years Legislators support has been instrumental
in making sure Florida can once again proclaim Florida truly is the
“State of the Arts.” GL
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment