Gov. Ron DeSantis gave no explanation for zeroing out the $32 million in grants that were approved by state lawmakers.

Leaders of arts organizations in Florida, many of whom have worked in the state for decades, cannot remember a governor ever eliminating all of their grant funding. Even in the lean years of the Great Recession, at least a nominal amount — say, 5 percent of the recommended total — was approved.

Established arts organizations usually know better than to overly rely on nonrecurring state dollars subject to the discretion of politicians, said Michael Tomor, executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art. But to cut funding at a time when arts organizations are still struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic sends a concerning message “that taxpayer dollars should not be used in support of arts and culture,” he added.

Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, gave no explanation for zeroing out the arts grants. His office said in a statement that he made veto decisions “that are in the best interests of the State of Florida.”

In all, Mr. DeSantis vetoed nearly $950 million in proposed spending and proclaimed that the remaining $116.5 billion came in under the previous year’s budget.

Non-paywall link

  • Flying Squid
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    1375 months ago

    Yeah, I get it. When has the world ever become a better place when nations fund artworks?

    Look at this Florentine shit:

    That is what you get when a nation’s leader becomes a patron of the arts. Is that sort of smut what you want our kids seeing?

    • bbbbbbbbbbb
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      535 months ago

      Next thing theyll do it paint porn on the roof of the Cistine chapel, however you spell it

      • @thesohoriots
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        English
        665 months ago

        You’re saying a cis teen painted this chapel? Woke agenda!

        • @jaybone
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          95 months ago

          And it took him like 30 years.

      • Flying Squid
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        105 months ago

        That’s okay, that’s the church paying for it. DeSantis is fine with church smut.

    • @ChicoSuave
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      215 months ago

      The true horror is that this is some Greek smut. We need good, clean Christian nudity for our money.

      • Flying Squid
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        125 months ago

        Fucking Aristophanes… getting famous just because the Athenian government wasted money on dramatic competitions.

      • @[email protected]
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        fedilink
        English
        25 months ago

        Greek smut.

        You know the Greeks were one of the first editors of the bible? I think they gave us the Old Testament.

    • @jaybone
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      45 months ago

      Those patrons of the arts the medicis were the oligarchs of their time.

      • @nomous
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        75 months ago

        And they used part of their considerable wealth to fund the arts.

    • @PunnyName
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      35 months ago

      “Would you censor the Venus de Venus just because you can see her spewers?”