City increases art funding by $80,000

FILE PHOTO The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers received $6,000 from the city to spend marketing an art festival. Art might be set off by a wave of the wand from Southwest Florida Symphony conductor Michael Hall. It may also be recognized in an offbeat play at the Theatre Conspiracy off Evans Avenue or the amalgamous creations of downtown Fort Myers-based sculptor Kosmas Ballis.

Whatever art is, Fort Myers' city leaders have paid those examples and many others more than lip service. This year, the city budgeted more money than ever, and more than $80,000 more than last year — $225,000 — to recognize the demands of an expanding local arts scene.

"If we can make a difference helping one artist producing art in downtown; or keep a gallery open in a place where galleries have not traditionally thrived; or keep a show open where 10 more people see it — that's of immeasurable value," said Jeff Mudgett, chairman of the Fort Myers public arts committee. "These aren't huge grants, not New York City type things, but they are something that has made some organizations more apparent."

Humphrey Of that fund, $18,000 will go to a consultant, to advise the city on its public art choices; and $25,000 is for the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, so itcan award its own Arts & Attractions grants throughout Lee County. The rest will go entirely to Fort Myers' galleries, museums, individuals, choirs, dancers, festivals and other sources of art.

"It's just more agencies that can be helped in the grant process this spring," said city spokeswoman Jennifer Hobbic. "We had many more apply this year."

The art scene must have been smaller, or at least undistinguished by government money, when Mayor Jim Humphrey founded the Arts & Culture Grants program in 2002, giving $34,000 to eight local groups. By last year, the amount awarded had nearly tripled. Five times as many artists and art organizations had applied for grants.

The grants range from $500 to $6,000 — generally not enough to cover any project in full. Florida Weekly asked local organizations how much the grants helped last year and what they are using them for.

Griffith For many, it helps revive some local cultural and artistic endeavors that have been gasping for funds, when local businesses and individuals stopped supporting them as much.

"During this economic downturn, the arts are even more important, because they are our hope for the future," said Jaimie Flack, director of development for the Southwest Florida Symphony. "They're our vision, our intellect.

"If they don't help us, we're not going to be here. I think everyone's very concerned. Our business sponsors have just dried up."

Others agree.

"There's always been a safety net of library funding that could bridge the gap, but this year there were no funds," said Karen Sloan, spokesperson for the Library System Foundation of Lee County.

She said last year's $5,000 grant from the city, which was awarded in September, was the shoestring that kept the Southwest Florida Reading Festival set for March 21, tied together.

It allowed her to book "Mystic River" novelist Dennis Lehane and other authors for the event.

McAllister Alibaba Lumumba, president of the Lee County Black History Society, plans to use the $4,000 he was awarded last year for an exhibit and jazz artist at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers in February 2009.

"This particular money is helping us put on the Black History Month kickoff," he said. (Plans for a specific date are in the works.) "…It's nowhere near the money we're going to need."

The Davis Art Center, which hosts a variety of exhibits and performers, got a $6,000 grant — the biggest one last year. It will be spent on marketing and promotions for the fourth annual arts festival to be held there in the coming year, said Director Jim Griffith. The festival will be a benefit for the millions of dollars still needed to renovate the Art Center, a 75-year-old former post office.

"(Mayor Humphrey) really wants to make this town into a city that's known for its arts, more of a cultural hub of Southwest Florida," said city spokeswoman Hobbic. "It's been proven that cities are helped by a strong arts program. It helps tourism; it helps the economy; it helps with making jobs; and of course it's (beautiful)."

In some cases, the city will reap financial profits from organizations it supports. A $5,500 grant awarded to ArtFest Fort Myers last year is a wise move economically, said festival President Sharon McAllister.

Artists are expected to sell close to $1 million worth of work at the outdoor show, which comes to about $60,000 in sales tax. Downtown merchants and service industry workers get an instant injection of business over that weekend. And about 180 artists spent the weekend in local hotels; the bed tax they paid goes back in to programs like beach cleanup or tourism ads.

The Art League of Fort Myers, which was awarded a $1,000 grant last year, holds art classes, displays work in the window for passers-by to enjoy, and is raising money for the Susan G. Komen foundation by having artists make provocative work using bras.

"There are a lot of great artists here," said John Pappas, president of the Art League. "It's a great organization. If some of these pieces that are hanging on the wall here were hanging in Naples, they'd be getting two or three times the price…

"The grant was given us to use against our rent. We rent from the city, actually."

The city is still accepting applications for this year's grant money. Arts chairmen Mudgett outlined what the city considers when it awards grant money: a subjective judgment of artistic and cultural merit; how many people the art or program will effect; educational value; and how well an organization administers its art programs.

Jeanne Bochette, director of GulfCoast Dance, Inc., which has instructed dancers in Fort Myers since 1976, is using the money this way:

"It's for community dance workshops and sharing cultures," she said. "We hope to reach the Hispanic community. We have a workshop planned in Hawaiian dance. And we have auditions in January for our spring production."

Arlene Roth, director of the Uncommon Friends Foundation, is using the money to reopen the Burroughs home in downtown Fort Myers, for historical tours.

"That $1,000 is gonna go real fast," she said. "Right now we've got these guys out there mowing the lawn and pressure washing the house, which was covered in cobwebs."

The grand opening is on Oct. 15.

Jennifer Benton, CEO of Arts for ACT, a gallery in downtown Fort Myers, said her $5,000 grant "helps us pay for our advertising and our rent.

"We're very happy to have it."

ACT benefits victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

One of the smallest grants last year — $500 — bought the Lee County Pipes and Drums a new drum. The 26-person bagpipe band plays at local parades and other events.

"We try to have all the drummers playing the exact same kind of drum," said President George Cook. "We were thrilled to get a grant the first time (we applied)."

He is still waiting for the new snare drum to be shipped from Ireland.