Endangered grant program benefits Palm Beach County

Possible elimination of the Cultural Development Fund means a blow to Palm Beach County culture, education, crime prevention and the economy.

It also means that a recent Urban Institute Study on Cultural Vitality in Communities ranking Palm Beach County sixth in the nation for the most arts establishments in a metropolitan area, and in the top 30 of a number of other measures, is already in danger of being jeopardized.

Many small and mid-size community organizations across Palm Beach County depend heavily on two modest grants administered by the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. The grants, the Cultural Development Fund: Mid-sized Institutions and Cultural Development Fund: Small and Emerging Organizations provide $800,000 to approximately 57 groups. The grants are paid for with Palm Beach County general revenues, and they are in danger of being cut from the new county budget. These grants are a vital and essential part of Palm Beach County’s funding formula for art and culture and should not be cut.

These funds support important community activities and an economic base that touches every corner of the county. Combined, the grantee organizations represent $25 million in annual operating budgets, and they effect many industries such as those represented by artists, carpenters, electricians, graphic designers, printers and stage technicians, just to name a few. The grantees provide a huge return on the county’s modest $800,000 investment. The 57 organizations listed below employ 546 people. A recent Americans for the Arts study showed that in Palm Beach County for every one dollar invested in cultural nonprofits, the County receives $1.86 in taxable revenue. These grant funds are not contributions, they are investments.

The $800,000 that supports these two grant programs is .00018 percent of the county’s annual $4,400,000,000 budget. And though property tax revenues grew by more than $500,000,000 in the last five years, this grant program has not grown at all.

Cutting these funds means that everything from at-risk youth programs, nature and history-based operations, festivals and minority cultural projects to performing and visual arts exhibits will suffer. These grant programs touched over 1.4 million people last year and they reach deep into the community to produce tangible benefits that have helped Palm Beach County improve its quality of life and become Florida’s Cultural Capital.

The funds help support diverse children’s programs, such as the Milagro Center in Delray Beach that delivers an arts-integrated curriculum to indigent minority children; Street Beat, which offers after-school programs in dance, visual art, music, and drama to youth living around South Bay; the Children’s Place at Homesafe provides personal arts education to children who were removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect; and the Children’s Coalition works with inner-city children who have a history of criminal behavior/adjudication in the West Palm Beach criminal justice system.

“This grant is vital to our survival,” says Charlton Cartwright, Children’s Coalition Founder and Executive Director.

“Without this grant we would have to cut services to the at-risk population we serve,” he continues. “Of course we would hate to do that. This program gets a lot of strong support from the community. Right now our kids have over 40 photos exhibited on the first floor in City Hall. That means a lot to these kids. And I’ve seen many of them stay out of trouble and some have gone on to film school or college, and a lot of them really get into computers,” Mr. Cartwright says about his programs that teach kids about digital technology and computers, among many other things.

Kids are helped every day with the after school programs these grants provide, and in many cases that help stays with them a lifetime. For example, Jesse participated in the Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County (YOPBC) after school program at the Lois Martin Community Center at Dixie Manor in Boca Raton. Before he entered the program, Jesse never saw a violin, much less touched or played one. He took music lessons at the center twice a week after school, and the music instructor quickly recognized his interest and undeveloped talent. Through Cultural Council funding for an outreach program, he was able to take private lessons. Jesse joined the YOPBC String Orchestra, receiving a tuition scholarship and was also accepted into the orchestra program at Bak Middle School of the Arts, and later into the orchestra program at Dreyfoos School of the Arts. Jesse also moved up through YOPBC's three orchestras, from the String to the Symphony and then to the most advanced group, the Philharmonic Orchestra. Jesse graduated from Dreyfoos in 2005 and became the first person in his family to go to college. He is currently majoring in music at Florida State University - and is still using a YOPBC instrument.

Cutting programs such as those at the Youth Orchestra and the Children’s Coalition can have a drastic effect on the community, something that the Riviera Beach Police Department has acknowledged. Police Commander Leonard Mitchell told the Palm Beach Post that he traced the influx of gang activity to a corresponding decline in after-school programs.

Youth services are only one aspect of the community that is helped by these grants. The grants also help various history and nature-based organizations, community groups, plus visual and performing arts. Organizations such as the 24-year-old Delray Beach Chorale, the Chilean Cultural Organization, the internationally acclaimed Klein Dance, the Hispano Latino Cultural Alliance, the Street Painting Festival, the Arthur R. Marshall Jr. Foundation and Environmental Institute, the Historical Society of Palm Beach County and Palm Beach Dramaworks, which won 6 Carbonell Awards and was nominated for 35 last year.

“These grants are essential for smaller organizations,” says Sue Ellen Beryl, Palm Beach Dramaworks Executive Director. “We already run on a lean budget, and without this grant we would probably have to cut a staff position. Since we only have five staffers, that means a 20% decreased in staff,” she explains.

The grantees listed below are part of the reason Palm Beach County is known as Florida’s Cultural Capital. The elimination of the cultural development fund grants will damage that brand, our cultural organizations, and Palm Beach County residents and visitors.

For additional points about how the cultural development fund benefits Palm Beach County, please see the attached resolution that the Palm Beach County Cultural Council Board of Directors hand delivered on June 11 to the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners. The Cultural Council Board of Directors consists of community leaders with very diverse backgrounds, and they categorically believe that it is in the County’s best interest not only to keep the $800,000 in the budget, but to increase it. The fund has not increased since 2003, yet the population, demand for the grants, and cost of living have.

Cultural Development Fund Grant Recommendations Fiscal Year 2008:

# CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS, District Number, Recommended Funding
1 Artigras-North Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce 1 $37,931
2 Lighthouse Center for the Arts 1 $36,457
3 Loxahatchee River Historical Society 1 $31,529
4 Florida Classical Ballet 1 $7,120
5 Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival 1 $8,502
6 Chilean Cultural Organization 2 $6,753
7 Resource Depot 2 $7,496
8 Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Community College 3 $36,215
9 Boynton Cultural Centre d/b/a/ Schoolhouse Children's Museum 3 $11,067
10 Boynton Regional Symphony Orchestra 3 $3,622
11 Klein Dance 3 $7,667
12 Street Painting Festival 3 $8,547
13 Take Heed Theater Company 3 $8,013
14 VSA arts of Florida-Palm Beach County 3 $12,848
15 Boca Ballet Theatre 4 $32,263
16 Centre for the Arts at Mizner Park 4 $35,257
17 Boca Raton Philharmonic Symphonia, Inc. 4 $11,526
18 Children's Museum 4 $11,321
19 Hispano-Latino Cultural Alliance 4 $3,855
20 Sandoway House 4 $7,539
21 The Haven, Inc. 4 $7,822
22 Cultural Art Department-Levis JCC 5 $22,059
23 Audubon Society of the Everglades 5 $7,496
24 Boca Raton Community Chorus dba The Boca Raton Singers 5 $7,120
25 Swing & Jazz Preservation Society, Inc. 5 $6,164
26 Dolly Hand Cultural Art Center at PBCCC 6 $37,931
27 ArtStart 6 $4,117
28 Caribbean American for Community Involvement 6 $3,523
29 Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden 6 $10,569
30 Pine Jog/Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees 6 $13,175
31 Street Beat 6 $12,631
32 EPOCH (Spady Cultural Heritage Museum) 7 $29,655
33 Historical Society of Palm Beach County 7 $35,914
34 Lake Worth Playhouse 7 $27,354
35 Palm Beach Dramaworks 7 $37,435
36 Artist Showcase of the Palm Beaches 7 $11,836
37 Center for Creative Education 7 $12,524
38 Delray Beach Arts (Garlic Fest) 7 $10,967
39 Delray Beach Historical Society 7 $11,308
40 Delta Heritage Foundation 7 $9,005
41 For the Children 7 $7,961
42 Inspirit 7 $8,775
43 MLK Jr Coordinating Committee 7 $8,638
44 Milagro Foundation 7 $12,577
45 Roots Culture Festival 7 $8,189
46 The Children's Coalition 7 $8,367
47 Young Singers of the Palm Beaches 7 $12,524
48 Youth Orchestra of PBC 7 $12,257
49 Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival 1 (7) $7,328
50 Jewish Community Center of Greater Palm Beaches 2 (1,5,6,7) $11,118
51 Arthur R. Marshall Foundation 2 (5,6) $11,067
52 Delray Beach Chorale 3 (4,5) $3,458
53 Palm Beach Poetry Festival 3 (7) $7,356
54 The Children's Place at Homesafe, Inc. 3,4,7 $8,171
55 Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition 7 (1 - 7) $13,300
56 Aequalis d/b/a The Core Ensemble 7 (6) $11,680
57 Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches $3,101
Grand total $800,000

Palm Beach County Commissioners
1 Karen Marcus
2 Jeff Koons
3 Warren Newell
4 Mary McCarty
5 Burt Aaronson
6 Jess R.Santamaria
7 Addie Greene

Attachment: Resolutions the Palm Beach County Cultural Council sent the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners

For more information about these organizations or any other information please contact:

Larry Boytano
Public Relations Coordinator
Palm Beach County Cultural Council
Tel. (561) 471-1601
lboytano@palmbeachculture.org