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Arts funding from the state of Florida has gone down in the past four years. In 2015, the Legislature earmarked $43 million for cultural grants. Just three years later, in 2018, funding slid to $24 million. And that decrease by almost half is alarming – until you look at the 2019 budget. Then you see that slow downward drift plummet off a cliff. The most recent state budget is the highest in Florida’s history. It’s $88.7 billion (with a B). And for the arts and cultural grants program, our lawmakers have set aside: $2.6 million. Not $26 million, which would be a small increase over last year. No, the state has slashed funding by 90 percent. Another way of putting ...
Published in Commentaries, From the Pages of Orlando Weekly