At the July 20, 2022 Commission meeting, the Mayor and Commission approved Resolution 2022-32261, authorizing a special election, submitting to the electorate of the City of Miami Beach the question asking whether the City shall be authorized to issue general obligation bonds (GOB), not exceeding $159,000,000, to improve facilities for resiliency of arts and cultural institutions throughout the City, including museums, performance venues, artistic playgrounds, senior/cultural centers, botanical garden, aquatic sculpture park, and related artist/workforce housing.

On November 8, 2022, the voters of the City of Miami Beach approved the issuance of a not to exceed amount of $159 million in Arts and Culture Bonds as follows:

For Bonds                 15,142                       64.80%

Against Bonds            8,226                       35.20%

At the November 16, 2022 Commission meeting, the Mayor and Commission approved Resolution No. 2022-32405 directing the Administration and City Attorney's Office to negotiate and secure public benefits for residents of the City as part of the grant agreements with cultural arts organizations that will receive G.O. Bond for Arts & Culture funds.

On March 27, 2023, the City Commission adopted Resolution No. 2023-32523 approving the Grant Agreement Template.

On April 28, 2023, the City Commission adopted the following Resolutions related to the Arts & Culture G.O. Bond:

• Resolution No. 2023-32592 accepting the recommendations of the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (F.E.R.C.) for Tranche 1 in the not-to-exceed amount of $101,700,000 (including grant amounts for the following projects: Workforce Housing, New World Symphony, Holocaust Memorial, Miami Beach Hispanic Community Center, The Wolfsonian and the Jewish Museum of Florida).

• Resolution No. 2023-32593 approving revisions to the Grant Agreement Template.

• Resolution No. 2023-32594 approving the additional public benefits proffered by each of the cultural arts organizations or entities that will receive Arts & Culture G.O. Bond funds or that will directly benefit from capital projects paid for with bond funding.

Following approval by the City Commission of the Tranche 1 amount on April 28, 2023, some of the cultural institutions occupying City-owned facilities to be improved with Arts & Culture G.O. Bond funding (“Resident Cultural Institutions”) have expressed the desire to execute some of the scope of work related to technology improvements. The Administration has reviewed these requests and recommends grants to the following institutions (refer to Attachments 1a, 1b and 1c for budget sheets for each of the entities):

Miami City Ballet:                                                       $7,518,000

Miami New Drama (Colony Theater):                        $2,594,000

Rhythm Foundation (Miami Beach Bandshell):            $153,000

The grant awards to the Resident Cultural Institutions will not result in an increase to the amounts previously approved for the facilities they occupy, as the Resident Cultural Institutions will be executing scope that was to be executed by the City.  Accordingly, the City’s budget for each facility will be reduced dollar-for-dollar by the amount of the grant award to the facility’s respective Resident Cultural Institution.

The summary table included as Attachment 2 herein reflects previously approved grants and proposed additional grants by project.

The total Tranche 1 amount remains $101,700,000, as previously approved by the City Commission.

The Administration recommends the adoption of this resolution approving grant awards to be funded from the proceeds of the General Obligation Bond for Arts & Culture for the Miami City Ballet, Miami New Drama, and The Rhythm Foundation; and further, authorizing the City Manager to finalize a grant agreement with each grantee, which agreements shall include the amount of grant award and additional public benefits provided by each grantee, as approved by the City Commission, as well as restrictions on the removal of equipment purchased with grant proceeds from the City-owned facilities occupied by the grantees; and further, authorizing the City Manager and City Clerk to execute the finalized grant agreement with each of the grantees.