Gov. Ron DeSantis didn’t grab a scalpel when he exercised his line-item veto power over next year’s budget.

DeSantis cut $32 million in state grants approved by the Republican-controlled legislature in the state’s $116.5 billion fiscal year 2025 budget.

He used Orlando’s Fringe Festival, long known as an international LGBTQ safe space, as an example of why Florida shouldn’t embrace the arts, calling Fringe “sexual” and an “inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.”

In response, Our Fund Foundation created an emergency Arts & Culture Fund over the summer “to help fill the financial gap and assist the impacted South Florida LGBTQ-serving arts and cultural nonprofit organizations.” They were quickly to raise over $150,000 which was divided among the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida, Stonewall National Museum, Archives, & Library, Island City Stage, Thinking Cap Theatre, Plays of Wilton, South Florida Pride Concert Band and ArtsUnited.

“With the current political climate and the recent elimination of Florida’s arts and culture state grants, it is vital we support these talented organizations that enrich our community in so many ways,” said David Jobin, President and CEO of The Our Fund Foundation.

Now Our Fund has announced its annual 2024 Arts and Culture grants, which were made possible, in part, with support from the Warten Foundation. The $300,000 grant will be given to 16 arts agencies ranging between $5,000 to $20,000 each.

The grants will be awarded on Sept. 30 during a reception at the Wilton Art Works Gallery.

Here is a list of recipients and their programs:   

1. BLINC Black LGBTQ+ Liberation - Thou Art Woman. A BIPOC-centered event series celebrating LGBTQ+ women and their allies through performance and visual art since 2014.
2. A Cole One Productions – springfruit. Two Black queer kids from Miami’s Down South countryside will stop at nothing to make it to their first Pride in Miami Beach.
3. Florida Atlantic University - 2024-2025 Fair Play Initiative. FAU Theatre Lab’s Fair Play Initiative is a commission and development program for new plays and stories about the LGBTQ experience.
4. Florida International University Foundation - Preserving Our Histories: The Miami AIDS Memorials Projects. Preserving and narrating the history of HIV/AIDS in South Florida through community oral histories and the curation of a new exhibition.
5. Gay Men's Chorus of South Florida - General Operating Support. The Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida uses music to celebrate the lives of LGBTQ people.
6. Hollywood Art and Culture Center - Open Dialogues LGBTQ+ Film Series. The Open Dialogues LGBTQ Film Series presents free screenings and discussions based on the coming-out and ally narratives of South Florida residents.
7. Island City Stage - Season 13 Operational Support. Support for Island City Stage’s 2024/2025 Season, "Something Old, Something New," and for underserved audiences to attend season performances.
8. Maven Leadership Collective - Consistent Gardeners Artist Residency. Consistent Gardeners: The Maven Artist Residency is South Florida’s first multidisciplinary LGBTQ+ artist residency and commissions initiative.
9. Miami Book Fair - LGBTQ+ Authors Series at Miami Book Fair 2024. To present a wide-ranging, inclusive, and diverse selection of LGBTQ authors and programming at Miami Book Fair 2024, as informed by their mission.
10. Niki Lopez - What’s Your Elephant Operating Support. A dynamic combination of art exhibits, interactive installations, talks, and workshops to facilitate discussions on topics such as gender, LGBTQ matters, social justice, placemaking, discrimination, and abuse.
11. OUTSHINE Film Festival - OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Presenting 100+ world-class LGBTQ films during festivals in Fort Lauderdale and Miami to entertain, inspire, enrich, educate, and encourage the community.
12. Plays of Wilton POW! - Continuing to Grow LGBTQ+ Theater in 2024. This year will be a year of growth for Plays of Wilton (POW!) which will continue to produce LGBTQ+ all year through POW! and Women of Wilton and in New York City.
13. The Pride Center at Equality Park - Jammin' at The Center. A sizzling selection of LGBTQ and ally artists brought to the heart of Wilton Manors designed to foster community engagement and celebrate diversity.
14. South Florida Pride Concert Band - Heroes and Villains with The South Florida Pride Concert Band and Voctave. A concert performance at the Parker Playhouse by the South Florida Pride Concert Band with guest artists Voctave.
15. Thinking Cap Theatre - Queer Woman-Centered Educational & Main Stage Theatre Programming. A queer-woman centered playwriting workshop series, and a queer-woman authored and focused main stage production.
16. Venetian Arts Society - From South Florida with Love! Showing the humanity and cultural richness of Broward via live performances that are professionally filmed and available on demand.