- May 4, 2024
-
-
Loading
Loading
In total, the city will pay $19,845 in grant money to various not-for-profit organizations to support cultural arts in Palm Coast.
Eleven not-for-profit organizations were approved Tuesday for grant money from the city of Palm Coast.
Among the approved grants were $2,450 each for the Community Chorus of Palm Coast, the Florida Agricultural Museum and Gargiulo Art Foundation Inc.
A 12th organization, the Flagler Playhouse, was deemed ineligible because it isn’t located within city limits and its performances aren’t in Palm Coast.
The city’s budget for cultural arts grants was $20,000. A total of $40,500 was requested, and the city awarded each of the 11 organizations with 49% of their requests.
All of the grant applications are reviewed by the city’s Leisure Services Advisory Committee. The grants are approved, and when the organization meets all the guidelines, they are reimbursed following the event, City Manager Jim Landon said. The cultural arts grants have been given out since the city was incorporated.
City Councilman Bill Lewis said Tuesday that he’s embarrassed by how few dollars are given out to support cultural arts in a city of more than 75,000 residents.
“The amount that we give in this city for cultural arts is really a shame,” Lewis said, adding that the people who love the cultural arts “do not come out and complain enough.”
“I know the trend nowadays is not to support the arts, but I think we have enough people here to feel different about that,” Lewis said.
City Councilman Bill McGuire said it’s a no-win situation.
“If you spend a lot of money on arts and culture, there’s a lot of citizens out there who will take us to task for that,” McGuire said.
Contact Andrew O’Brien at [email protected].
