Florida Gov. DeSantis Vetoes All Public Arts Grants.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said he vetoed the entire $32 million in cultural and museum grants and related funding for hundreds of organizations in Florida, because a fraction of the dollars went to "Fringe" festivals... offbeat shows which can include adult-content and drag performers... which draws thousands to Florida each year saying that he didn’t want state funds supporting sexual-themed festivals.

“We didn’t have control over how it was being given. So you have your tax dollars being given in grants to things like the Fringe Festival, which is like a sexual festival where they are doing all this stuff,” DeSantis said at a press conference. “How many of you think your tax dollars should go to fund that? Not very many people would do that.”

The festival being referenced by DeSantis, the International Fringe Theater Festival, has been held annually for more than three decades in Orlando. It advertises itself as having live theater, concerts, and “kid friendly shows and activities.” The Orlando Sentinel reported in May that the festival’s performances “can get sexual—but always for a good reason and maximum comic effect.”

Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Orlando Representative who was just elected to the Senate, stated, “The veto of all cultural and museum grants from the budget is unprecedented. I’m not aware of any Governor who has ever vetoed that line item because of how devastating it would be to the hundreds of organizations who rely on that funding. It’s never happened.”

"He's abusing his veto power to censor and control the arts," Smith added. "This doesn't happen in 'free' states."

The latest DeSantis stunt has sent art organizations across the state scrambling, like the Tampa Museum of Art and Sarasota Opera. DeSantis $32 million veto wiped out grants expected by almost 600 arts and cultural programs and 33 community theaters, museums and other attractions around the state.

For some, the loss of tens of thousands of anticipated state dollars came just days before the budget year began July 1, leaving them scrambling to close sudden financial holes.

Molly Rowan-Deckert, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Arts, considered DeSantis’ remarks “horrifying.” She also said they were grossly inaccurate. For her organization, no state grants directly benefit the Fringe Festival, which sustains itself on ticket sales, but the loss of grant funding threatens staff positions and the economic foundation of the arts nonprofit.

“He’s talking about wanting to expel woke ideology from the state of Florida, and I think he’s conflating the arts with woke ideology,” she said.

She voiced a concern that DeSantis judged Fringe Festivals without ever attending one. Acts aren’t chosen to be provocative — and certainly they are not exclusively sexual. For Fringe Fort Myers, various artworks that struggle to find other avenues apply to be part of the festival and organizers draw the entries at random.

“It’s a dangerous assumption, and unless you have experienced it, how do you know what an arts festival is?” she said. “But also, if you don’t like a show, don’t go.”

There's not a lot of Fringe Festival funding in the line item killed. And there are only four Fringe festivals which take place in the state.

"It's very unfortunate that the governor is misrepresenting our festival," said Tempestt Halstead, producer for the International Fringe Festival of Central Florida, which has been operating for 34 years.

"To veto all state funding and blame us is absolutely absurd," she added.

Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, said regardless of taste, the festivals also serve as an economic engine.

“I attended Orlando Fringe this year and do almost every year — it’s a popular international event that attracts tens of thousands of people from across the country and state,” she posted on X.

“It features independent artists, drag performers and other forms of artistic expression that DeSantis has wanted to censor despite courts telling him otherwise. DeSantis once again shows his true colors and disdain towards the LGBTQ+ people and First Amendment. This veto also impacts economic growth for all communities. By the way, just because arts groups are approved for funding doesn’t mean they even get funding! Depends on where they score and what money the legislature allocates.”

Indeed, organizations must still undergo a rigorous application process that validates the need for spending and demonstrates benefits to the state.

DeSantis did not elaborate on why his dislike for the fringe festival should take funds away from attractions like Tampa’s zoo and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, both of which rely in part on state funding.

“I have to be the one to stand up for taxpayers and say, ‘You know what? That is an inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars,’” he said.

DeSantis has cracked down hard on drag shows in Florida and LGBTQ content in its schools. Along the way, he’s picked a fight with anyone in Florida who’s questioned his actions or tactics—infamously going to war against Disney for opposing him on the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

In schools, he has also led a charge to ban hundreds of books, including some about LGBTQ people and Jackie Robinson, and initiated a public battle with the College Board over the contents of its AP African American History class. He’s also welcomed PragerU content into classrooms and given the OK on U.S. history curriculum that has taught Florida children that slavery brought “personal benefit” to Black people in the South.

Now, it appears, Florida’s arts scene may be next on the chopping block.