VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Volusia County art groups are holding their breath, hoping a councilman’s request to restore their grant funding finally gets heard.
Last fall, the county council slashed $600,000 that supported more than 30 local organizations. The idea to reinstate this funding came up at a recent county council workshop and is now expected to be officially brought up for discussion at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Since the decision to cut it in October, those supporting the arts have spoken at almost every council meeting, fighting to get the money back. They said they have to cut programs because of it.
“It’s important to be able to have where you live in the community invest in the things that actually bring enjoyment to people,” said Alexa Baldwin.
Baldwin, with the Athens Theater in DeLand, said without the grant, they have to raise ticket prices and cut back on shows. She said the grant money went toward musicians, youth scholarships, and special performances.
“Part of what that money was going for was so that we could offer accessible performances for our local deaf communities and for the local blind communities,” Baldwin said.
In October, the council voted to cut the $611,000 in operating grants for 33 cultural groups.
Part of the original discussion for the cuts centered around local theaters being used by the Volusia Pride group for LGBTQ events.
“We withdrew our applications in order to give an opportunity for the other 30 organizations to be able to get their funding, although they withheld those funds and said no, we’re still not going to dole those out,” Baldwin said.
It was the second curveball thrown at the organizations last year. The county first changed its requirements for the grant application earlier in 2025, then cut the grant after applications went in.
“I just think that we can do as promised, that we can hold true to what we had committed to do earlier in the year, and then next year we’ll look at it,” said Matt Reinhart.
While Volusia County Council Vice Chair Matt Reinhart supports reinstating the funding, Council Chair Jeff Brower said he’s not bending.
“We’ve got to start cutting, and it’s not that arts aren’t important. They are. But is it a core responsibility of government to pay for the arts? In my opinion, it’s not,” Brower said.
News 6 will bring updates on this discussion from the county council meeting.