On August 8th, the County Commission of Brevard voted to eliminate 2023-24 funding for Arts and Cultural Grants. There are 25 organizations that were stripped of grant funding they rely on to function including the Space Coast Art Festival. Our Board Treasurer, Marilyn Grigsby with 30+ years of experience with the organization released the following statement to Fox35 in Orlando.
Read the Fox35 Story Here: https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/brevard-arts-culture-organizations-losing-thousands-in-grants-from-county-commissioners
The cancellation of the Cultural Grants Program by the Brevard County Commissioners, may bring an end to the Space Coast Art Festival’s nearly sixty year program of bringing the Fine Arts to Brevard residents and to visitors from throughout Florida and other countries.
The cancellation of the grants may also bring an end to the Brevard County Student Art Show held in conjunction with the annual Space Coast Art Festival, in which there were over 400 student entries in 2022.
SCAF is a Not-for-Profit 501-C-3 organization run completely by volunteers and depends upon grant monies and community donations to support their FREE yearly Festival scheduled October 14 & 15 this year.
One-half of the canceled Cultural Grant monies was designated to be spent on advertising to attract out of area visitors to the Space Coast, which will now definitely limit SCAF’s ability to advertise , as well as other grant recipients, as the money will not be available to promote their programs/events.
Without community financial support of cultural programs, many will not be able to continue and once again, Brevard County residents will have to travel to other areas of the state for cultural entertainment, just as it was 60 years ago!!
Can You Help?
The impact on our organization is enormous as our annual, once-per-year, free event is weeks away with very little time to compensate for this financial burden. If your business or organization can step in and step up to support this year’s event please get in touch with us.
