Sarasota County Commissioners discuss spending arts grant money on tourism promotion

Sarasota County Commissioners are looking to drastically change the way arts and cultural organizations are supported by a small portion of the tourist taxes collected on short-term hotel stays and rentals.

Last year, the county provided a record $3.2 million in funding to 35 arts and cultural organizations through the half cent of the bed tax that has long been allocated for that purpose. Other money from the tax goes for beach renourishment, sporting events, and marketing and promotion of the region for tourism.

But how and where that arts and culture money is spent will change in the coming year and could be more completely overhauled in the future, based on comments made as commissioners approved a one-year extension of a long-running contract with the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County to oversee the grant application process.

Commission Chairman Mike Moran said he’d like to change the process “next Thursday” instead of in fiscal 2026 and see all the money given over to Visit Sarasota County to use solely for promoting the arts programs. Visit Sarasota County has been promoting the Sarasota area as the Cultural Coast, playing off the county’s distinction as a cultural destination in the state.

“You can have the best programming content, but this money is dedicated to providing a head to the bed. You have to market it and sell it and promote it,” Moran said. He said that programming support would best come from the philanthropic and private sectors. “This money is specifically designed and tasked to get one head in the bed, taxed, and put another head in the bed. It is not a stretch for Visit Sarasota to take on those responsibilities. They are wonderful at what they do.”

For years, the arts and culture grants were intended to encourage programming that would extend the traditional tourist season and help attract visitors through more of each year. Those requirements have shifted a bit over time.

A study by Americans for the Arts released in October showed that arts and cultural organizations had a $342 million economic impact on Sarasota County in 2022 and that tourists are a major component of that economic impact.

For fiscal year 2025, commissioners voted Tuesday to require that 50 percent of grant funds be used for marketing programs and events, with the rest spent on the programs themselves. There will also be some changes in the scoring procedures for grant applications. Organizations will continue to provide information from visitor surveys to show lodging information and how programs attracted tourists.

Last fall, commissioners put a pause on renewing the contract with the Alliance to provide time to gather more information from county staff about the process and how the money might otherwise be spent. With Tuesday’s approval, commissioners still expect grant recommendations to be approved in July.

Commissioners also provided broad outlines of how future years might be funded to Nicole Rissler, director of parks, recreation and natural resources for the county. Rissler presented details about how other counties allocate tourist development money and options for the commissioners to consider.

While Moran said he preferred to focus all the potential funding through Visit Sarasota County, other commissioners said they like the 50-50 split at least for now. Some suggested spending 75 or 80 percent for marketing.

Commissioner Mark Smith pointed out that “content is important” and that without quality programming there would be less to promote.

Some organizations already spend at least a portion of TDC grants on promoting these programs. But Rissler said if the percentages were significantly changed, grantees might decide that “the juice might not be in the squeeze for them.”

She said an $80,000 grant might only generate $20,000 to the organization for the programs. “That might not be worth it to them. I’m not sure where that threshold is to them.” Organizations also spend money for staff time to prepare grant applications.

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Brian Hersh, who was named CEO of the Arts and Cultural Alliance last April, said he was excited that commissioners gave his organization unanimous approval to move forward with the grant process. “It gives us a great chance to really collect a lot of information on the quality of the arts programs and projects that are here while looking forward to what may happen next.”

Hersh said he “can’t speak to what will happen in fiscal 26 and beyond” but that “everybody believes in Sarasota as a cultural destination and we want to maintain this beacon as a premiere destination as the cultural coast."

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: County commission talk changing formulas for arts program funding