How Florida Dance Organizations Are Responding to the Slashing of State Arts Funding
After spending long days at the studio throughout June, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami artistic directors Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra looked forward to closing their season with a surefire program followed by a free presentation for summer-camp youth. Ahead lay the hard work for the next fiscal year’s performance calendar, but the directors took comfort knowing the Florida legislature had already approved funding in the amount of $23,265—47 percent less than they had applied for, but still 7 percent of the total company budget—to pay artists the following season.
Then, on June 12, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, exerting his line-item veto power, cut all state arts funding for 2024–25 to zero. $32 million had been slated to go to more than 600 arts organizations, ranging from large companies (Miami City Ballet lost $70,500, according to the Sun Sentinel) to small, education-based centers. Dance NOW! Miami—deprived of $25,457—characterized the situation as “state-sponsored censorship” in an appeal to donors.
“It was quite a gut punch,” says Kronenberg. State support for 2023–24 covered around 9 percent of the 8-year-old company’s budget, helping them finish this period in the black. “The arts are a huge contributor to Florida’s economy,” says Kronenberg, pointing to the nine-to-one return for every dollar the state grants each organization. “These cuts send a message that the arts are a frivolity not worthy of respect.”
Ballet Vero Beach artistic director Adam Schnell confesses, “I feel immense sadness and frustration.” His company had counted on $38,000 of legislative appropriation under the General Program Support category to provide salaries for artists and staff. Last year BVB received $25,000 for its Florida-themed Nutcracker on the Indian River.
Schnell says that, as the only professional dance company between West Palm Beach and Orlando, Ballet Vero Beach—like many organizations throughout the state—uses “art as a jumping-off point for meaningful change in our community. Programs tackle senior-citizen loneliness, environmental stewardship, early literacy. What’s hindered as funding shrinks is our ability to partner with other nonprofits to better our citizens’ lives.”
A long-time grants panelist for the Florida Division of Arts and Culture—which processes arts funding applications in order to recommend them to the legislature—Schnell vetted requests the governor vetoed. “I understand how many people will be affected by the cuts,” he worries, “and even not survive.”
Shortly after the funding cuts were announced, support organization Miami Dance Hub circulated a guide for the dance community and its supporters to voice concerns to state representatives, aiming, as its director Cameron Basden puts it, “to encourage political engagement while moving forward—sharing information and backing individual organizations collectively.”
Concerted action must remain ongoing, insists Allyn Ginns Ayers, vice president of Miami Dance Hub, director of LegalARTLink (a nonprofit assisting Florida artists), and associate director of Dance NOW! Miami. Consistent advocacy is key to registering the importance of arts funding with elected officials, though she notes that the governor’s ability to exercise line-item vetoes remains a concern. She singles out Florida Cultural Alliance, a Tallahassee-based nonpartisan advocacy network, for its strategizing resources, including an advocacy tool-kit available through its website.
To supplement its budget, Dimensions has resorted to a crowdfunding effort and support-building in-studio events. “Some of the first heroes to reach out to us were fellow artists and friends outside of Florida,” Kronenberg says, “offering to donate choreography and in-kind administrative help for next season.”
At Ballet Vero Beach, Schnell says, “I’ve planned adjustments to programming to rely less on grants—though I’m haunted by the fear that politicians who are against funding misguidedly want that.”
Ginns Ayers, who is slated to participate in the state’s Division of Arts and Culture grant-review panels, says she’s heard that the governor is looking to rework the application process, which has already begun for the 2025–26 fiscal year. She fears this might adversely affect government approval of proposals submitted this June, particularly if content deemed “controversial” by the conservative governor and legislature becomes an issue.
Still, the dance community’s resourcefulness fills Kronenberg with admiration. “As we face these cuts,” she says, “everyone I’ve spoken to is committed to standing united. We know how to put up a fight.” Schnell agrees: “Florida is full of intelligent, enterprising individuals who understand the need to bring beauty into the world. That doesn’t change because of less funding. We are magic-makers.”
