Taking funding away from arts for Brevard lifeguards doesn't add up | Torres

I don't want to believe the move to cut funding for the arts locally is about a grudge, spite or bigotry.

I don't want to believe our county commissioners can be so petty or short-sighted they would sacrifice community events, museums, festivals, concerts and live community theater because they drank the Ron DeSantis-Randy Fine Kool-Aid that the LGBTQ community is actively trying to groom our children.

I want to believe the commissioners when they say the county's beaches need more lifeguards. I'd like to believe them when they say the $934,654 being rerouted from the arts to hire more lifeguards is genuine. I'd like to believe there is absolutely no other place the money can come from for more lifeguards.

But then I start to do the math, and the logic just falls apart. The money denied the arts is enough to allow the county to hire 32 lifeguards at the starting rate of $13.75 per hour and based on a 40-hour week. The department presently has 14 full-time lifeguards on staff.

No. They will not be probably will not be hiring 32 additional lifeguards. Some of the money will be used toward promoting safe beaches through marketing and for additional towers going up in previously unguarded areas, supplies, etc.

Yes, clearly the need for more lifeguards on our beaches exists, and who could argue against that when we saw 10 ocean-related fatalities at unguarded beaches since December. But in a county budget of $2.03 billion, does it have to come at the expense of other things that bring in tourists, as well as enrich the lives of us residents?

The proposed county budget for 2023-24 is 848 pages long. You're gonna tell me there isn't $934,654 that can be skimmed from those 848 pages?

I mean, sure, I use the beaches and feel safer when there is a lifeguard on patrol.

But I've also attended fantastic performances by the Brevard Symphony Orchestra. I've taken out-of-town guests to the Dinosaur Museum. I've gone to see the Surfing Santas. I've attended the Native Rhythms Festival more than once. I've volunteered my time to raise money for Green Gables, and I have spent way to much money at the Melbourne Art Festival.

Don't even get me started on how much fun it is to attend the Brevard Renaissance Fair and I don't even dress in character! And the theaters? In addition to having performed on several of them, I have attended shows at every venue on the Space Coast.

Again, why is it one or the other? Why does it have to be the arts or lifeguards?

The commission voted 3-2 this week to reject renewing the annual Brevard Cultural Alliance contract for the 2023-24 budget year that begins Oct. 1. This comes weeks after the commission rejected funding for all 25 arts and cultural organizations and events that were recommended for such grants for the 2023-24 budget year, including many I've mentioned above.

The commission also confirmed the denial of $225,000 of tourist tax money that the Space Coast Office of Tourism had set aside for "major events grants" that were sought by the Brevard Renaissance Fair in Melbourne, the Space Coast State Fair in Viera and Thunder on Cocoa Beach powerboat races.

The tourism grants are designed to boost visitors for cultural events in Brevard.

Marion Pellicano-Ambrose of Palm Bay, president of the preservation-minded nonprofit Green Gables at Historic Riverview Village, has worked tirelessly for years to keep Green Gables from becoming a ruin. I've seen her work firsthand. She said the BCA "is an amazing organization that serves all of the county's cultural and arts community. Cutting our much-needed funding was a heartbreaking blow to all of us who dedicate ourselves to the culture, history and the arts here in Brevard County."

More: Divided County Commission votes against renewing Brevard Cultural Alliance contract

More: Brevard to expand ocean lifeguard coverage using tourist tax revenue

Having served two years on the board of governors for the Surfside Playhouse in Cocoa Beach, I know this full well. Surfside lost out on a $15,000 grant that it qualified for. It may not sound like a lot of money, but it's a big deal. You'd be surprised how little profit our local theaters make. After paying for the rights to a show, expenses add up, as theaters buy lumber and materials to create sets, buy costumes and pay for the enormous upkeep costs of the buildings.

Costumes get used again and again and sets are repurposed for numerous shows just to save money. Oh, and 90% of the work is done by volunteers.

County Commission Chair Rita Pritchett chastised the Brevard Cultural Association for not seeking out other sources of funding, perhaps rightly so. After all, she warned the BCA last year that she would vote to withhold funding if they didn't.

I can tell you from board experience that volunteers and paid staff at Surfside work very hard every year to identify and apply for numerous grants to help keep live theater in Cocoa Beach. I'm sure this holds true for most, if not every organization sideswiped by the county this year.

As a military child, Suzanne Childers, development director for Surfside Playhouse, moved around an awful lot. But there was always one constant: art and culture.

"No matter where my father was stationed, my mother ensured her children were exposed to the arts. Ballet, symphony, opera, museums … she always found an arts community every place we lived," she said. "Your pulling these funds from the 25 nonprofits who were to benefit from them only brings us closer together. We are stronger together, and we will move forward together. We are a tenacious bunch. Thank you for reminding us of this fact."

It's important to note here that the $934,654 comes from tourists who are taxed by hotels and vacation rentals in Brevard County when they come here to stay. This is not Brevard resident taxpayer money. Sure, tourists come from all over to use our beaches, but they also come for art festivals and concerts and to visit culturally important places like the Harry T. & Harriette V. Moore Cultural Complex, the American Police Hall of Fame or the Valiant Air Command Warbird Air Museum, all of which qualified for grants that were then snatched away.

All that funding goes away now for lifeguards? Sorry, something about that doesn't seem to ring true.

Why the cynicism on my part? Well, because many believe the cuts were implemented as a way to avoid awarding a grant to Space Coast Pride for its annual Pridefest held in downtown Melbourne. The group met all the requirements for a $15,000 grant, but came under fire on social media from State Rep. Randy Fine, who railed against the "Drag Queen Story Time" event that has been held in the past at Pridefest.

"Just learned that the County Commission vote next week will be to directly fund Drag Queen Story Time in downtown Melbourne using your tax dollars," Randy Fine posted on Facebook earlier this month about the tax dollars paid by out-town-visitors staying at our hotels. "If you do not believe we should have government-sponsored child grooming activities, please let your County Commissioner know."

Eliminating the grant for just Space Coast Pride would surely invite a lawsuit. So … why not cut everyone's grant?

Well, maybe they can't single out just one group.

"They did it so they wouldn't have to discuss their bigotry," said Steven Heron, artistic director of the Titusville Playhouse.

County Commissioner Jason Steele ― one of the two votes in favor of keeping the funding to BCA ― said he supported pulling the cultural grant funding for Space Coast Pride and six other organizations recommended for cultural grants that only attract between 1,000 and 2,500 out-of-county visitors.

I don't buy it. Maybe an event attracts "only" 2,000 visitors. But maybe these people decide to return next year. Maybe, upon attending an event, they also discover our beaches, our theaters or decide to come back for a different festival.

No, no matter what they say, this isn't about lifeguards or not enough out-of-towners, this is about something else.

I wish I didn't believe it. Prove me wrong. Find the money for the lifeguards somewhere in those 848 pages.

Contact Torres at jtorres@floridatoday.com. You can follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at facebook.com/FTjohntorres.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Drag queen paranoia and grooming accusations will kill arts in Brevard