Winter Park arts groups wait on tourist tax grant decisions

Orange County Commission may spend more of the bed tax on arts next year, but some groups in limbo for now

By Beth Kassab

Orange County Commissioners on Tuesday will likely accept the report of a special task force on the Tourist Development Tax, effectively setting the stage for a months-long showdown over which local groups such as Rollins College, the Winter Park Playhouse, the Park Avenue District, Crealde School of Art and the Bach Festival Society will receive a share of the money and how much.

But first, county commissioners must decide how much of the tax — a 6% levy on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals that brought in more than $330 million last year — should go toward grants for arts and cultural organizations.

The hard numbers along with the formal application process could bring a dose of reality to some of the more than 50 organizations that proposed nearly $4 billion worth of projects in recent months to the TDT Citizen Advisory Task Force.

“There was no barrier to wild euphoria in sending in those interest indicators,” said Fred Winterkamp, the county’s fiscal and business services division manager who is set to retire in a few weeks.

The TDT Citizen Advisory Task Force is recommending significant increases to the two organizations that dole out arts dollars, but even if those changes are approved by the County Commission there still won’t be enough for everyone who submitted an “indicator of interest” form. Proposed increases include:

• The TDT Application Review Committee (ARC), which contributed to the new Winter Park Library and Events Center, has not received new funding since 2018. The task force is recommending ARC receive between $60 million and $100 million over five years and increase the individual grant cap to $20 million from $10 million. The ARC roster includes representatives from across the county, including Jennifer Anderson, a marketing and sales executive who is married to Winter Park Mayor Phil Anderson.
• Orange County’s Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Council was formed in 2005 and receives 3% of the first four cents of the six-cent tax each year. The task force is recommending the amount increase to 5% of the first four cents and that grant caps increase from $500,000 to $2 million. In the past these dollars have helped a number of groups and projects in Winter Park. For example, a grant helped make the bathrooms at the Capen House compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act after the house was floated across Lake Osceola and moved next to the Polasek Museum as an events venue.

If the commission accepts the task force’s report on Tuesday, Mayor Jerry Demings said last week that the board will schedule work sessions to determine the dollar amounts that would go toward each of the grantor committees, which also includes the Greater Orlando Sports Commission. From there, the committees would meet to lay out a process for groups that want a piece of the pie.

Winterkamp said the process for ARC would likely extend into spring 2024 to give organizations enough time to learn the process and prepare their proposals.

That could leave some organizations that are trying to plan next year’s budgets in limbo.

For example, the Winter Park Playhouse is trying to determine if it will have enough money to construct a new home before the beloved small theater loses its lease on Orange Avenue next year.

The Winter Park City Commission has discussed potentially allowing the theater to build on public land or even purchasing its current building, though no decision has been reached as the city is attempting to balance its own budget.

The Playhouse told the task force in May it is seeking $6 million toward an $8 million project to develop and construct a new theater. The Playhouse has received about $600,000 from TDT grants since 2013 to help with operating costs.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• reddit

An architectural rendering shows the exterior of a new Rollins Art Museum.

Other Winter Park organizations seeking TDT grants, according to task force documents, include:

• Rollins College Art Museum is seeking $10 million toward the construction of a new $30 million museum. The college said it had already raised $17 million toward the project that city commissioners approved in April. The art museum said it has received more than $700,000 in TDT grants since 2017 to help fund exhibits and marketing.
• Crealde School of Art is seeking $125,000 to expand classroom space on its main campus. The longtime Winter Park institution attracts students from across the region and beyond and said it has received previous small TDT grants to support exhibitions and other programming.
• Park Avenue District Inc. is seeking $300,000 for a marketing campaign to promote the city’s central shopping and restaurant corridor. The district has not received any TDT funding in the past.
• The Bach Festival Society is asking for $225,000 toward a $600,000 marketing campaign in key U.S. and international markets. Bach Festival has received $1.2 million in previous TDT grants since 2013.

The potential expansion of TDT dollars devoted to arts and culture comes amid an unprecedented effort by the task force to push county leaders to use TDT money for pressing local needs beyond tourism marketing and the Orange County Convention and other big venues like the Amway Center, which have always received the bulk of the revenue.

Other communities across Florida and the nation, including the Florida Keys, use bed taxes to help provide more accessible housing, public transportation and other demands that often come when regions are reliant on the tourism industry and the tens of thousands of low-wage workers who keep it running.

The task force voted in favor of seeking a change in state law to expand how TDT revenue can help the local community and devoting an extra cent to the cause, but Mayor Jerry Demings has not expressed support for the change.

At a meeting last week of the Tourist Development Council, which oversees the tax, Demings said the tax has provided extra dollars that have relieved pressure on other pieces of the county budget so that the general fund can address housing and other needs.

“One thing that I know is that our commission is absolutely committed to addressing the social challenges that we have as a community,” Demings said. “… Because we do have the blessing of this TDT if has historically relieved pressure on some of the other revenue streams that we have to be able to address social challenges … the homelessness, crime-related issues, treatment for the mentally ill to the housing crisis that we have.”

The commission’s action scheduled for Tuesday means the board accepts the task force’s work, but does not automatically equate to an endorsement of its recommendations.

Additional dollars devoted to local arts and culture groups would undoubtedly benefit more local people, but the groups applying for the grants must still show how they contribute to drawing tourists in order to receive the grants.

Questions or comments? Email the editor at WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com