The Administration supports the funding recommendations of the Cultural Arts Council (CAC) in a one-time amount of $930,000 in FY 2021. The utilization of these funds will maintain the strong cultural foundation and reputation the City has developed, by attracting quality art and culture programming, cultivating educated, experienced and talented artistic and cultural thought leadership, and demonstrating to the greater community the importance of art in the Miami Beach. 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, charged to develop, coordinate, and promote the arts and culture in the City of Miami Beach community.  Since the Grant Program inception, 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”) capped at the amount of $2,467,000, (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

On May 13, 2020, the Mayor and City Commission adopted Resolution 2020-31268 accepting the recommendations of the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (FERC), at its April 17 and April 24, 2020 meetings, approving the use of prior year accumulated Cultural Arts Council (CAC) fund balance and endowment funds to establish a “Cultural Arts Emergency Fund” in the amount of $1.0 million to provide financial assistance to Miami Beach-based cultural organizations experiencing revenue losses due to the COVID-19 crisis. 

As part of the FY 2021 budget adopted through Resolution 2020-31428, an additional $1.0 million of CAC fund balance and endowment funds was allocated to provide further funding relief to cultural organizations in the City of Miami Beach impacted by COVID-19, of which $500,000 was appropriated at the commencement of FY 2021 as part of the adopted budget and the remaining $500,000 balance was proposed to be appropriated mid-year of FY 2021. 

At the April 30, 2021 Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (FERC) meeting, it was recommended that the remaining $500,000 balance of the $1.0 million allocated in the FY 2021 budget be allocated to provide funding relief to cultural organizations in the City of Miami Beach impacted by COVID-19 from prior year accumulated CAC fund balance. On June 23, 2021, the Mayor and City Commission approved Resolution No. 2021 -31745 to appropriate the remaining $500,000 balance of the $1.0 million allocated in the FY 2021 budget adopted through Resolution No. 2020-31428 to provide further funding relief to cultural organizations in the City of Miami Beach impacted by COVID-19 from prior year accumulated Cultural Arts Council fund balance and endowment fund.

The current balance of the fund is noted as follows:

On July 1, 2021 the Cultural Arts Council made a motion to recommend eligible FY 2021 Cultural Anchors receive funding based on the following guidelines:

$60,000 for Anchors with annual organizational budgets below $750,000

$65,000 for Anchors with annual organizational budgets between $750,000 and 3.5M

$70,000 for Anchors with annual organizational budgets at or above $3.5M

The fourteen (14) qualifying FY 2021 Cultural Anchors and recommended funding amounts, based on organizational budgets, are noted as follows: