ORLANDO, Fla. – More than 100 local artists and groups have collaborated to create a new website to showcase a different part of visiting Orlando: the culture and arts.
The online guide showing the “creative side of Central Florida” comes during a time of uncertainty about government backed grants toward cultural tourism.
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In April, Orange County Arts and Culture Affairs Administrator Vicki Landon revealed plans to cut Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committees and grants to comply with Federal and State regulations.
“Unfortunately, this means we must cancel the pending Cultural Tourism Supplement – DEI grant and the Cultural Tourism Supplement – Sustainability grant for the FY25 window,” Landon said in a prepared statement.
In a letter from Landon to county leaders, she said the cuts were also made to “not jeopardize other arts funding.”
DEI grants being slashed are part of President Donald Trump’s administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE — which is assigned to find ways to fire federal workers, cut programs, and slash federal regulations. However, these cuts are also part of the president’s agenda as he denounced DEI and claims it is a form of discrimination, as previously reported.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also echoed similar sentiments to Trump by creating a state DOGE task force and touted that “he will continue to fight” against DEI programs.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings briefly acknowledged the impacts of DOGE on both the state and federal level at a previous commissioners meeting.
He said there may be more challenges or budget cuts in the future when it comes to funding cultural tourism efforts.
“There may be further modifications in how we will implant our desire to strengthen our local economy with cultural tourism,” Demings said.
Meanwhile, the new guide was backed by the nonprofit United Arts of Central Florida and tourism organization Visit Orlando, as part of the Cultural Tourism Initiative created last year.
It highlights artsy hotels, museums, galleries, gardens, festivals, theatres, shows, workshops and more across Central Florida.
A spokesperson with the United Arts of Central Florida told News 6 that the launch of this website is not in correlation to funding cuts.
“ArtsinOrlando.com is an initiative created by United Arts of Central Florida in collaboration with Visit Orlando to help elevate our local arts and culture community. This leads to more tickets sold, more traffic to local museums, etc. This is a beautiful iteration of United Arts’ arts and culture calendar that has expanded tenfold,” a spokesperson told News 6.
All in all, according to the Florida Division of Arts & Culture’s website, 65% of the more than 100 million visitors to the state take part in at least one cultural activity.