Leon County Commissioners will hold a workshop on the future of funding for the Council on Culture and Arts (COCA). The decision comes after hours of discussion and public comment.
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Leon County set to hold workshop to discuss future of COCA funding, after hours of debate
The Leon County Commission voted 5-1 to schedule this workshop next month to further discuss a proposal that could restructure how COCA receives and administers its grant funding.
The vote came after more than four hours of debate and about 50 community members speaking out against the potential restructuring. Commissioner David O’Keefe cast the lone dissenting vote. Commissioner Brian Welch was out of the chamber when the vote took place
Currently, about $2 million in tourism tax dollars are given to COCA by the County and distributed by COCA’s board. Under the proposed restructuring, COCA would come under Leon County’s Tourism Division.
County staff said reasons for the restructuring include giving the board more jurisdiction over how grant funding is administered and streamlining operations resulting in savings of $213,000 at a time when staff says they are concerned about potential impacts to county revenue streams.
Kerri Post with Visit Tallahassee said the consolidation would allow the two organizations to align their missions.
“Aligning the arts and cultural program and marketing into tourism, the tourism development dollars would significantly increase the impact of arts and culture in our community,” Post said.
Still, community members voiced strong concerns about what the consolidation could mean for COCA’s identity and purpose.
“COCA serves a different purpose. COCA encourages the people who actually live in this county, to not simply observe culture but to create it,” one neighbor, Terry Galloway said.
Another community member spoke to the personal impact of the local arts community.
“I’ve decided to extend my graduate studies, and stay here for another five years, and become a Florida resident because I have an arts community now, that’s what this has given me,” that speaker said.
Commissioners also weighed in on the importance of preserving COCA’s core mission.
“In my view we must have an organization with the core mission of promoting arts and culture within our community. COCA is that organization,” Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor said.
The workshop is expected to be held next month.
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