Cultural Policy Class Visits Florida Department of Cultural Affairs

On Wednesday, February 4th, Dr. Cuyler’s Cultural Policy class spent time with the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs. The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) is Florida’s state arts agency and their mission it to “advance, support, and promote arts and culture to strengthen the economy and quality of life for
all Floridians.” To achieve this mission, the DCA provides programs and resources for arts and culture organizations throughout the state. One of their biggest resources is their grant program, which includes funding for “arts in education, local arts agencies, state service organizations, museums, theater, dance,
folk arts, literature, media arts, multidisciplinary, music, sponsor/presenter, and visual arts programs and projects.”

During the meeting, the class spoke with Sandy Shaughnessy, Gaylen Phillips, and Curtis Young and learned how the DCA works with arts and culture organizations, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Florida State Government. The students asked a variety of questions; curious about the many
ways the legislature affects arts and culture throughout the state. Together, the group spoke about the state budget and how funds are appropriated each year to arts and culture, lobbying rules and practices for nonprofit organizations, and ways the DCA helps organizations remain aware of new legislation. The DCA also shared a section of their brand new strategic plan, which gave the students exciting insight into the strategic planning process of a state arts agency. The class truly enjoyed getting to see how a state arts agency works from the inside out, and thanks the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs for hosting them!