Arts groups ask Council to increase City allocation

A grassroots effort is underway in St. Petersburg to find additional funding for the arts after Florida governor Ron DeSantis deleted all such allocations from the state budget.

Sculptor Mark Aeling was among those addressing City Council Thursday morning. “The arts community is the goose that has laid the golden egg for this city,” Aeling said. “It’s time for the city to feed that goose.”

Councilmember Gina Driscoll has pledged her support to upping the City’s allotment to artists and arts groups to 1 percent annually; which would add up to $7 million in arts support.

Among the speakers at the Thursday meeting was Terry Marks, President and CEO of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, the city’s designated artist support organization.

She referenced the Alliance’s Comprehensive Arts Strategy, published in 2021. “This document clearly designated the need, and also the impact, of a one percent designation of funding for the arts in the city budget,” Marks told the Council. “It’s not a grant. It’s not a loan. But it’s an investment. It would appreciate – every one dollar returns seven.”

In a 2022 economic impact survey co-conducted by her group and Americans for the Arts, Marks continued, “it was proven that the arts contributed over $132 million to the city. And of that, forty-six percent came from the arts community itself.”

The city’s current allocation for arts is .82 percent; Marks and her allies contend that’s not nearly enough to support sustainability and capacity-building, in a city where artists are being driven away because of escalating rents and cost of living expenses.

The point, she and the others stressed, is that to call yourself a City of the Arts is one thing: Money should go where the mouth is, i.e. the goose needs to be fed.

Especially now.

“It makes economic sense supporting music, dance, performance, books, museums, galleries, districts, studios, murals, sculptures, technology and those individuals and organizations who are driving this economic sector,” she explained in the meeting. “We are asking for your support, your voice, your vision … to step forward and leverage our cultural capital for now and for the future.”

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Marks praised Discoll’s support of the effort, and said the momentum is building.

“It feels like the conversation’s really on,” she said. “The City may replenish what the State stepped back from – that could be the first step. I don’t know if it’s possible to get it in the 2025 budget, or the 2026 budget. But I think everybody spoke with passion, and with force, and we’re all on the same page, as a community together.

“It’s really up to the balance of the City Council members to decide how they’re going to take action on this.”

Marks was part of a town hall meeting, addressing the funding crisis, Wednesday night at the Palladium Theater. This followed a similar group discussion July 23 at the headquarters of the Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA).

WADA representatives were among those addressing City Council Thursday.

“What we’re looking for,” Marks told the Catalyst, “is to help the smaller arts organizations that are really struggling with capacity. Us included. And also, importantly, the artists.

“The money that the city gives now is going to larger institutions. So our hope is that we can build infrastructure and capacity for smaller arts organizations across the board, visual and performing. And those that serve through arts like with mental health and education.”

Corporate funding and individual philanthropy, she stressed, have to be part of the funding mix, too, in order for a “City of the Arts” to thrive.

But support from the City itself is paramount.

“If you look at Atlanta, or Asheville, or Seattle, there are so many cities that allocate much more than one percent,” Marks said. “It’s just being on par with cities that are our size or a little bit larger. It would bring the arts community where it needs to be, and match the level of sophistication in terms of where the city is going.

“And when the Economic Development Corportation brings in a new company that’s looking to house itself in St. Pete, we join the meeting and they’re talking about art and culture. And how that affects their employees and enriches their lives. So that HR aspect is part of it.”

Marks is hopeful. “It’s time. It’s really time. I think what happened at the state level kind of shocked everyone into action mode. And I’m hoping that propels it to an allocation.”