The Administration supports the funding recommendations of the Cultural Arts Council (CAC) in the grant funding allocation of $879,086 for the Cultural Arts Emergency Fund. The utilization of these funds will maintain the strong cultural foundation and reputation the City has developed, over the decade, by attracting quality art and culture programming, cultivating educated, experienced and talented artistic and cultural thought leadership, and demonstrating to the great community the importance of art on the Miami Beach community, culture, history and spirit. This is the true purpose and mission of the CAC, to support and sustain the meaningful and committed efforts of the City and our cultural institutions to continue to embed, develop and democratize arts and build bridges between generations and cultures.  

The Miami Beach Cultural Arts Grant Program ("Grant Program"), originally created in 1998 as an essential component of the mission of the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council, is charged to develop, coordinate, and promote the arts and culture in the City of Miami Beach community.  Since the Grant Program inception in 1998, the Mayor, Commission and Cultural Arts Council ("CAC") have awarded approximately $18 million in cultural arts grants, supporting thousands of performances, exhibits, and other cultural activities in Miami Beach. The Grant Program is managed by Tourism and Culture Department.

In 2001, the City set aside 1% of the Resort Tax for a cultural arts reserve fund and those funds support only cultural affairs grants and programs and the Quality of Life Fund for North Beach, Mid-Beach and South Beach programming. Currently the 1% Resort Tax set aside is distributed as follows: 10% to CAC, 30% to Quality of Life and 60% to Transportation/Trolley operation.  

The funding to cultural arts grants and programs is divided into two (2) restricted funds, that are managed by appointed members of the Cultural Arts Council, which reviews and makes recommendations for Commission approval.  The two (2) funds, essential to the operations, quality and growth of Miami Beach cultural arts programming are as follows:

Cultural Arts Council Fund Balance

In 2014, the Cultural Arts Council recommended, to the City Commission, to create a Cultural Arts Council Fund Balance (“Fund Balance”) in the amount of $2,467,000, that is capped (providing for an annual increase for inflation). This recommendation was approved on September 10, 2014 by Resolution No. 2015-29045. The original City Commission (Resolution No. 2014-28732) referencing the fund balance, contained a scriber error in the fund amount referenced and was replaced by Resolution No. 2015-29045. The purpose of the Fund Balance is to set aside rainy day funds that will ensure the Cultural Affairs program operation and grants continue for a period of two (2) years, in the event of an emergency, unforeseen difficulty, trouble or need.  All funds remaining, at the end of each fiscal year, are rolled over to the following fiscal year.

Cultural Arts Council Endowment

The Cultural Arts Council Endowment ("Endowment") was established by the CAC in an optimistic attempt to become self-sufficient by using fund. The Endowment is capped at $1,581,873, and is to be saved, spent, invested and distributed for the purpose of enhancing Miami Beach's art institutions, collections and operations.  Currently, $800,000 of the Endowment is allocated to the renovation of the Rotunda in Collins Park. The Rotunda construction isn’t time sensitive and could be postponed, by City Commission, and revisited. CAC, at its February 6, 2020 meeting, expressed it would be prudent to retain a rainy-day balance, of no less than $500,000, for emergencies and unforeseeable situations, circumstances and opportunities. 

In April 2020, the combined fund balances for the Cultural Arts Council totaled $4,280,368. As part of the FY 2020 budget balancing plan presented to the Finance & Economic Resiliency Committee on April 17, 2020, the Administration recommended funding the FY 2020 budget allocation of $1,540,000 from the CAC fund balance instead of the 1% Resort Tax for Quality of Life to free that allocation up for other purposes such as supporting the trolley system or other resort tax purposes.

 The Administration then recommended, with the support of the CAC, the creation of a $1 million Miami Beach COVID-19 relief fund for cultural organizations to mitigate and alleviate the financial and programmatic hardships created by the current COVID-19 pandemic. On May 1, 2020, via Resolution No. 2020-31247, the Mayor and City Commission established a Cultural Arts Emergency Fund in the amount of $1,000,000 to provide financial assistance to Miami Beach-based cultural organizations experiencing revenue losses due to the COVID-19 crisis.  The $1,000,000 COVID-19 Emergency Relief grant, as well as the current FY 19-20 Grant Program funding of $1,540,000 is being funded through the Cultural Arts Council Fund Balance, reduced the fund balance from $4,280,368 to $1,740,368 (see table below).

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Miami Beach arts organizations are facing unprecedented revenue losses. To date, Miami Beach based cultural organizations are collectively reporting over $7M in lost revenue, reflective of closures since March 12, 2020. Depending on social distancing guidelines and community perceptions, it may be more than a year or more before Miami Beach institutions are able to operate at full capacity, if they survive at all. Venues such as the Colony Theatre, managed by Miami New Drama, receive 40% of their annual revenue from ticket sales. The management of Miami New Drama has estimated approximately $615,000 in lost revenue since closures Staff is working with each organization to track revenue losses.

On May 1, 2020, via Resolution No. 2020-31247, the Mayor and City Commission established a Cultural Arts Emergency Fund in the amount of $1,000,000 to provide financial assistance to Miami Beach-based cultural organizations experiencing revenue losses due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Relief Fund provides meaningful emergency grants that would mitigate and alleviate the financial and programmatic hardships created by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Funds would support administration, operations, programming, marketing, facility rentals, and contract employees.

Eligibility was determined by the Cultural Arts Council as follows:

Current grantees (Cultural Anchors) of the City of Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council (FY 19-20) who have been financially impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic were eligible to apply for emergency relief. To apply, organizations were required to:

• Demonstrate need

• Provide proof of 1:1 match for requested amount;

• Operate and maintain a primary physical address within the City of Miami Beach.

An organization’s need for emergency relief funding was determined by evaluating:

• The negative and immediate revenue and operational impacts of Covid19;

• New or expanded needs of the organization, and its constituents, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (creation of digital platforms, technologies, etc.);

• Short-term and long-term recovery plans, including how grantee is mitigating any impact of COVID-19, board participation, and efforts to find alternative funding sources;

• How funding will be leveraged to provide positive long-term recovery results and benefits; and

• The strength of operational and fiscal plans and measures currently being implemented.

The Administration released the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants on May 11, 2020. The grant funding timeline is noted as follows:

1. Funding approval by City Commission- May 1, 2020

2. Grant Guidelines presented to Cultural Arts Council- May 7, 2020

3. Applications Open – May 11, 2020

4. Mandatory Grant Workshop for Qualified Applicants- May 12, 2020 at 3:00 PM

5. Applications Due- May 29, 2020

6. Internal Review of Applications/Corrections Period - June 1-5, 2020

7. Applications available for Cultural Arts Council review and scoring- June 8-19, 2020

8. Cultural Arts Council COVID-19 Emergency Grant Panel- June 25, 2020

9. Cultural Affairs Council meeting to recommend grant funding for FY 20/21 Cultural Arts Council Grants and COVID-19 Emergency Grants: July 9, 2020

10. CAC Funding Recommendations for COVID-19 grants presented to City Commission -July 29, 2020

11. Grant Contracts issued - August 2020

     

Miami Beach Cultural Anchors were eligible to request funding in segments up to $50,000 for institutions with annual organizational budgets below $750,000, up to $75,000 for institutions  with annual organizational budgets between $750,000 and 3.5M, and up to $100,000 for institutions  with annual organizational budgets at or above $3.5. Thirteen Cultural Anchors applied for the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grant. On July 9, 2020, the CAC made the following funding recommendations:

As noted in Resolution No. 2020-31247, the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund was established at $1M. On January 29, 2020, The Miami City Ballet entered into a $200,000 sponsorship agreement with the City to support performances at the Colony Theatre, New World Symphony and Lincoln Road, along with additional support for the Ballet Bus program. The Miami City Ballet’s FY 19-20 sponsorship agreement was funded by Resort Tax funds, which are no longer available. Staff was directed to fulfil the remaining balance of the Sponsorship Agreement in the amount of $120,000 from the Cultural Arts Council Emergency Relief Fund to satisfy the sponsorship agreement; therefore, $820,000 was available for Emergency Relief grant funding.

Funding is available through the Cultural Arts Fund Balance.