Please take these advocacy steps NOW.
Date Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
1. IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!
The Florida Legislative Fiscal Year 2010-2011 state budget process in underway. You must engage NOW to help prevent deeper cuts to our state's investment in its arts and cultural grant-program line items. Below are the initial recommendations for arts and cultural grant-program line items administered by the Florida Department of State.
Where the SENATE Stands as of 3/10/2010 on FY 2010-2011 Cultural-Grant Line Items: Today, March 10, the SENATE Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee Chairman recommends ZERO for the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs' grant-program line items.
Where the HOUSE Stands as of 3/10/2010 on FY 2010-2011 Cultural-Grant Line Items: The HOUSE Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee met this afternoon, and in their committee meeting materials, the Committee Chairman only recommends the following:
Cultural and Museum Grants -- $1,500,000 (currently this line item is $2,500,000)
Florida Humanities Council -- $150,000
Historical Preservation Grants -- $650,000ACTION NEEDED NOW: Call and e-mail all the key legislators who deal with state appropriations listed in the Excel files we created for you that includes Senate and House Appropriations Leadership contacts, and members of both the House and Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committees. You can easily download and use these contact files at this link.SUGGESTED MESSAGE: Note for the advocate: Please personalize your message to legislative staff if you call and in your e-mails to legislators. Let them know the impact these state cultural grants mean to your organization and community. Florida's arts and cultural resources this current fiscal year have already received a 92% cut in state support from just a few years ago. Cutting grant appropriations even deeper in Fiscal Year 2011 for our state's arts and cultural resources is cutting more jobs throughout our state and further weakening a statewide cultural infrastructure that helps build Florida's economy, not deplete it. Florida's arts and cultural industry provides and supports
-- 88,326 full-time jobs throughout the state
-- $3.1 billion in local economic activity and
-- delivers $446.5 million in local and state government revenue
For every dollar Florida invests in its arts and cultural industry, $5 is returned to government. Florida already ranks 49th nationally in state appropriations for its arts and cultural resources, and invests only 14 cents per Floridian. Please restore funding for arts and cultural grant line items to Fiscal Year 2008-2009 levels, which is a total of $6.2 million -- an 81% cut from just a few years ago. Please do not cut state support for cultural resources that are critical to downtown/community revitalization, tourism, business relocation and retention, student achievement, crime prevention, jobs, health and wellness, economic diversification and development, and quality of life. Florida's arts and cultural resources are part of the solution to get our state back on a strong, economic track. Please restore these line items to FY 2008-2009 levels, and do not cut them any deeper than current fiscal year levels -- jobs are at stake:
Cultural and Museum Grants -- $4,851,800
Specific Cultural Project Grants -- $800,000
State Touring Program and Fellowships -- $300,000
Florida Humanities Council -- $288,000
Thank you for your time and consideration. If I may provide you with additional information, please let me know. Include your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
2. Have you followed through on the following Florida Cultural Alliance Action Alerts? Just click on the Alert below,
and please follow through on the simple action steps outlined for you in each Alert.
March 2, 2010, Action Alert
February 23, 2010, Action Alert
3. Have you downloaded the Excel file for your Florida county that lists all the state legislators for your county? The
Excel file makes it easy for you to have all the information for your state legislators on your computer so you can more
easily communicate with them.
4. Have you shared with your Florida Representative and Senator our 2010 Legislative Platform, and encouraged
them to support it?
Here is some additional information you can use in your communications with state policy makers:
a. One-page document you can print and send to them that clearly demonstrates how the
Florida Division of Cultural Affairs' grants programs have been cut by over 92% since Fiscal Year
2006-2007. Share with them how important Florida's investments in these grant programs are to your
community.
b. Sample talking points to use along with your own points. Select a couple of these talking points
when you communicate with your legislators and Florida Legislative leadership.
c. Use some of the quotes on pages one and two of our 2010 Arts/Cultural Platform and note the
number of endorsements for the platform from throughout Florida.
We are part of the solution and are critical to help rebuild a strong, creative, and innovative economy for our state.
Legislators can help create and sustain more jobs throughout Florida by supporting our 2010 Legislative Platform.
They need to hear from you now. Please follow through and let your state policy makers know how important
their support is to sustain these hundreds of long-established private/public partnerships through the Florida
Department of State Divisions of Cultural Affairs' and Historical Resources' grants programs. If you have questions
or need additional information, e-mail us at info@flca.net.
5. Register now for Arts Day 2010 in Tallahassee for March 24. Plan to join arts advocates from throughout
Florida to demonstrate our collective support for arts, arts education, and cultural development. Your participation is
important. Please join us on Wednesday, March 24, in Tallahassee, Florida.
6. Check back here next week to see if there are new advocacy steps you can take. If we all take these steps
together, it will make a difference.
Thank you so much for taking these simple steps to help
advance Florida's arts, arts education, and cultural resources.
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