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Orange County Commissioners Discuss Arts Funding

Immerse performer. Photo courtesy of Creative City Project

Several arts groups are up for new funding at Tuesday's Orange County Commission meeting. The recommended projects mostly focus on building or improving arts facilities, with the exception of one “blockbuster” event.

The county’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Council created the Blockbuster Fund in 2015. It’s carved out of money already allocated to arts and culture.

The fund’s specific aim is to help bankroll major events expected to draw crowds of 100,000 people or more,  hence the “Blockbuster” moniker, and if the event involves collaboration between community arts organizations, so much the better.

This year, the Advisory Council is recommending $400,000 from the Blockbuster Fund go to the Creative City Project for its “Immerse 2019” event in October.

Last year’s “Immerse” staged a two-day downtown Orlando takeover, filling the streets with hundreds of local artists and a massive strolling audience.

The Advisory Council is also making its annual recommendation for allocation of construction-related funds, totaling $1.2 million. The seven Orange County arts organizations, including the Orlando Ballet, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, and the Pine Castle Historical Society, must get the OK from county commissioners.

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined WMFE in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.