PantherNOW Editorial Board
On June 12, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed the state’s $32 million art funding from the legislature-approved 2024-2025 budget.
Nearly two months later, hundreds of organizations across Florida are still struggling, looking for money to stay afloat.
His justification for cutting the state art budget?
Two Fringe Festivals in Orlando and Tampa which featured drag shows. Or as he so eloquently put it, “a sexual festival where they’re doing all this stuff.”
Even the most morally bankrupt individual can tell you that’s not fair. Cutting the funding of over 700 programs because of two festivals – which did nothing wrong – is outrageous.
This is part of the governor’s broader strategy to prioritize STEM education over everything else. It’s good that STEM’s receiving additional funding, but not at the expense of everything art and culture-related.
The cut will hurt FIU students and their job prospects in the arts. No funding for these programs means they can’t pay their staff, meaning hundreds of people will be laid off or some roles cease to exist.
This also has major implications for freedom of expression or the First Amendment. Isn’t that what this is all about, anyway?
How can these organizations continue to operate if the fear of retaliation in the form of budget cuts is always lingering in the background?
They can’t, meaning they’ll have to be more selective with their programming to not rock the baby’s cradle in Tallahassee too hard.
Using the Fringe Festivals as scapegoats for slashing the art budget has set a dangerous precedent.
We ask one simple question: Is there any logical reason to do this?
A spokesperson for the governor said it was in the state’s best interest to do this to cut down on overall government spending.
Yet according to the state, the art and culture industry generated $6 billion in 2022 in economic activity.
Not to mention, the arts and culture industry being slashed would inevitably trickle down to affect tourism, by far and away Florida’s, especially South Florida’s, largest industry.
The leaders of the Fringe Festivals have even offered to give up their grants if it meant restoring the art budget for the state.
Art is a reflection of ourselves. It inspires us, it pokes fun at the world around us and for some people, it offends. But that’s the beauty of it. We shouldn’t limit people’s ability to express themselves and make the art they want to make.
If you don’t want to see a drag show, don’t.
You aren’t going to like all types of art that come out. That’s obvious. But why destroy the livelihoods of so many people and threaten those who do enjoy these types of performances?
DeSantis’ decision to veto the state’s art funding is asinine. It deserves to be mocked at every opportunity for how foolish it is. It’s another short-sighted decision in a term full of them.
The editorial board condemns this decision with as much vitriol as possible.
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