Gov. Ron DeSantis gave no explanation for zeroing out the $32 million in grants that were approved by state lawmakers.

Leaders of arts organizations in Florida, many of whom have worked in the state for decades, cannot remember a governor ever eliminating all of their grant funding. Even in the lean years of the Great Recession, at least a nominal amount — say, 5 percent of the recommended total — was approved.

Established arts organizations usually know better than to overly rely on nonrecurring state dollars subject to the discretion of politicians, said Michael Tomor, executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art. But to cut funding at a time when arts organizations are still struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic sends a concerning message “that taxpayer dollars should not be used in support of arts and culture,” he added.

Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, gave no explanation for zeroing out the arts grants. His office said in a statement that he made veto decisions “that are in the best interests of the State of Florida.”

In all, Mr. DeSantis vetoed nearly $950 million in proposed spending and proclaimed that the remaining $116.5 billion came in under the previous year’s budget.

Non-paywall link

  • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    The true horror is that this is some Greek smut. We need good, clean Christian nudity for our money.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Fucking Aristophanes… getting famous just because the Athenian government wasted money on dramatic competitions.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      Greek smut.

      You know the Greeks were one of the first editors of the bible? I think they gave us the Old Testament.