A $60M Pinellas County funding cut? Now what?

Pinellas County residents are quaking in their flip-flops at the $60 million that's forecast to be cut from next year's budget. But none quake so hard as arts and culture organizations, who after two consecutive years of belt-tightening, are going to have to tighten up once again.

Deciding to stick with the two-year plan, commissioners set a goal February 2 to cut $80 million over the next two years with a 60/20 split, an estimated 20 percent reduction in the general fund budget. Over the last two years, Pinellas County has had to cut $86 million from its general fund budget and eliminate 523 full-time positions.

Assistant County Administrator Mark Woodard says that, due to the ever-suffering economy and continued declines in property values, "Programs not required by law, such as cultural arts funding," are low on the list of priorities when compared, for example, to health and human services.

This is worrisome considering the financial impact of arts and culture in Pinellas County. According to Arts and Economic Prosperity III, a report published in 2007 by Americans for the Arts, nonprofit arts and culture generated $159.71 million in economic activity in Pinellas, supporting 3,965 full-time equivalent jobs that generated $80.23 million in household income, and $16.39 million in local and state government revenue annually.

In 2009, the Cultural Affairs Department, which oversees arts funding in Pinellas, went from seven employees and $2.2 million in expenditures to three employees and $890,000 in expenditures for 2010. That's a reduction of four employees and $1.3 million. In 2009, the department awarded 31 Cultural Development Grants totaling $590,000. Those numbers decreased to 26 grants and $80,000 in 2010.

Added to that, the Tourism Grants Council fund dropped $400,000 and the Public Arts and Design Program was eliminated from the 2010 budget all together, "except for two remaining public arts projects, Belleair Bridge and Wall Springs, for funding amounts of $120,000 and $54,000 respectively for which the County had previously contracted," says Woodard.

To say the future looks bleak is an understatement, even when one considers other government funding options.

This year, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs awarded 10 grants to Pinellas County artists and organizations totaling $209,350. In 2008, the total number of grants was 48, in the amount of $804,581.

Says Rainer Weissenberger, grants specialist for the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs: "Our grant funds were cut back to $2.5 million last year and we are looking at a possible status quo for this year but won't know until legislative season."

By contrast, National Endowment for the Arts awards to Florida organizations went from $1,671,900 in 2008 to $2,098,300 in 2009, with an added $393,700 given to the Division of Cultural Affairs as part of the federal stimulus package.

Still, many arts organizations are having to supplement government funds with private grants and in-kind donations, says Judith Powers, director of Pinellas County Cultural Affairs, such as, "individual communities … foundation support, and private sector support." Powers adds that there's also the corporate and business sector, "and in that arena you're really looking at sponsorship, but also marketing and other in-kind services."

George Ann Bissett, executive director of the Dunedin Fine Art Center, says her organization is special in that every member of the team is familiar with the budget, and contributes to strengthening the organization. "Everybody knows our budget," she says. "Everybody knows where every penny in this organization goes. I show them how the money is spent, and how it comes in. Everybody knows what's going on here, and the best way to try to get over it is working together."

She adds that fundraising and careful planning have gotten DFAC through most of the downturn. "As a not-for-profit, you have to fundraise," she says. "I look to the hospitals and the educational institutions like USF. You have to raise the money, and you can't expect your board to do it, because they're volunteers."

DFAC bases their fundraising approach on "what art does for children, teens and adults." Their education program brings in a large part of their budget, of which 62 percent, at this point, is earned income.

Many organizations have had to cut way back on educational programming, though, such as American Stage, St. Petersburg's only professional (Actor's Equity) regional theater company. "We have had to cut a lot of the outreach our education department did for the community," says Andy Orrell, marketing director, "including several programs that provided the only theater arts education in several lower income public schools." He adds that the company still hasn't hired "full-time replacements for employees who left several months ago."

Orrell says American Stage was fortunate in that, like DFAC, it noticed government funds disappearing several months ago, in time to make the necessary changes in its programming. "We slowly phased out a lot of our reliance on these moneys," says Orrell.

Like many regional theater companies and mid-sized community arts organizations, American Stage has a faithful contingency of patrons and seasonal ticket holders who have carried them through much of this downturn. "We are lucky to have the greatest patrons, who have helped us grow our theater to the point that nearly 60 percent of our budget is covered by ticket and subscription sales," he says.

Like American Stage, Creative Clay can count on reliable numbers of students filling its small classroom, but can't rely on a reliable funding source from one year to the next. Executive Director and Founder Grace Ann Alfiero says she knew even 15 years ago, when she first entered the nonprofit arts world, that funding was not always going to be steady. That's why, she says, "it has always been part of our strategic plan to apply for as many grants as possible, to invite partnership opportunities with agencies that have a similar mission to ours, and to secure annual contracts with school systems and state agencies."

To supplement lost government funds, in August of this year Creative Clay will launch a new product line of member artist-designed items at the New York International Gift Fair. "I believe it is time for social service agencies and arts organizations to evaluate the talent within their organization," Alfiero says, "and to begin thinking of entrepreneurial ventures to supplement the shortfalls we will all experience due to the state of the economy."

Powers says the Cultural Affairs Department continues to support Pinellas arts organizations in ways that don't require funding, such as providing resources, both in the form of services and online information, and publishing monthly newsletters with information about grants, workshops and jobs. "We're really trying to convert a lot of what used to be written information into an electronic form, to make everything available online and get it out on a regular basis. So, we're trying to work differently." Working differently can be a helpful practice within organizations, too. "We try to help cultural organizations and artists do their jobs more effectively, and [do them as] efficiently as they can in tough economic times," Powers says.

Powers says at this point, it's hard to tell exactly what the impact of budget cuts will be, but that arts organizations are undoubtedly going to have to brace themselves for another round of slashes. "While I anticipate that there will be impacts to our budget," she says, "what they will be and what they will look like, we don't know yet."

This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2010.