Urgent Call for Support: St. Petersburg's Arts Community Faces Financial Challenges

It’s time for all of us in St. Petersburg to step up to financially support the arts in our city. Consider that the governor vetoed more than $32 million in arts and culture grants from the 2024-25 state budget, which hurt St. Petersburg nonprofits by approximately $1 million. This comes at a time when soaring costs are hitting arts organizations hard.

Anyone walking around downtown St. Petersburg can see the impact of the arts. Walk a few blocks, and you’ll see everything from the Museum of Fine Arts and the Dali Museum along the water to the James Museum, the Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement and The Studio@620 downtown. When I talk to realtors, commercial real estate brokers and to new residents, they often mention the arts as a major reason that people and companies are choosing to move here. Add in the growth of the Warehouse Arts District, and the success of institutions like freefall Theatre in the western part of the city, and you can see that the citywide impact is significant.

As local artist Mark Aeling said to the St. Petersburg City Council in July: “The arts community is the goose that laid the golden egg for the city. It’s time for the city to feed the goose. ” The city government can do its part by bringing city arts funding back to 1% of the budget, where it used to be. City Council member Gina Driscoll has brought up this idea, which is reasonable and makes sense.

The 1% would equate to roughly $4 million a year. While the city administration recently grew the arts budget from $600,000 to $1. 3 million (which certainly helps), it’s important to get to 1%. We can’t just depend on the city government for help, though. Residents and local companies should step up, too.

As an example, I recently donated to “Save Park,” American Stage’s fundraising drive to sustain its annual outdoor performances in Demens Landing Park. As one example of increased costs, think about what it will cost to put on next spring’s performance of Hair. These performances are first-class, but that means paying more for the materials needed to build the set and for quality actors and staff. Groups like American Stage are doing their part to adapt and be as efficient as possible. But that isn’t enough to counter the impacts of inflation.

One inventive approach is to find uses for arts-related spaces that can be of help financially. I recently represented the landlord in negotiating the lease for entrepreneur Reuben Pressman’s move to create a pickleball complex within the Factory St. Pete facility. The Factory will continue to have a significant arts presence, while the pickleball complex should dramatically improve the facility’s revenue situation. Our city’s economy is one of the healthiest in Florida, and much of it is tied to our quality of life.

The arts are so important to this equation, and we should all look at ways we can support these invaluable nonprofit institutions.