One question to watch during the 2026 Legislature: How much money goes to support the arts?
Local theaters, museums and other arts organizations have been hit hard with financial losses coming out of the pandemic. What stung even worse was Gov. Ron DeSantis line-vetoing their entire $32 million grant funding in 2024.
On Thursday, the House released its proposed state budget, which recommends giving $24.7 million for the special category of cultural and museum grants from the general revenue fund. Some of the arts the House wants to fund include projects Republicans favor, like America’s 250th anniversary celebration or a museum teaching about communism.
Overall, the House’s spending plan appropriates $23 million in nonrecurring general funds for the 2026-27 projects on the ranked list recommended by the Florida Council on the Arts and Culture. “Of these funds, $12.457 million is provided for the projects recommended by the Secretary of State,” the House’s proposed budget said. “The remaining balance of funds shall be held in reserve. To utilize the entire remaining balance of funds, the department must submit a second recommended list of projects from the ranked list by the Florida Council on Arts and Culture for items that were excluded from the Secretary’s initial recommendation.”
In addition to those grants, the House proposed funding several appropriation requests from lawmakers for eight other projects. Those included spending $212,500 with the Florida Humanities Council to celebrate America’s 250th birthday across the state and $250,000 on the Bay of Pigs Museum and Library in Miami to hire more employees and do building maintenance.
Other proposed spending was $500,000 for the Florida Grand Opera Civic & Art Engagement Initiative, $250,000 for the Florida Civil Rights Museum in St. Augustine, $201,254 for the PIAG Museum in Miami, $175,000 for the Southern Shakespeare Company in Tallahassee, $75,000 for the Miami-Dade Hometown Heroes Community Event and $62,500 on Holocaust Museum safety and security.
The House also recommended several fixed capital outlay projects at theaters and museums, including $2.5 million for constructing the Hillsborough County African American Arts and Cultural Center and $1.25 million apiece for the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History (MOSH) and the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
