Subject:
Title
Approval, Re: Tourist Development Council FY 2021-2022 Cultural Support Grant Program recommendations.
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Fiscal Impact:
FY 2021-2022: $150,000 for listed grants is budgeted in the Cultural Fund 1446/293020.
Dept/Office:
Tourism Development Office
Requested Action:
Recommendation
It is requested the Board of County Commissioners approve the Tourist Development Council’s recommendation to approve funding for the following FY 2021-2022 Cultural Support Grant Program applications listed in Attachment (A), as well as make the necessary legislative findings, In approving the following cultural grants, the Board is making the legislative finding for each grant that tourist development tax funds are authorized to finance each grant because pursuant to section 125.0104(5)(a)3, Florida Statutes, each project is an activity, service, venue, or event that has as one of its main purposes, the attraction of tourists as evidenced by the promotion of that project to tourists. Further, in accordance with section 102-119(3)d of the Brevard County Code, each project is a tourist-oriented cultural or special event such as visual and performing arts including theater, concerts, recitals, opera, dance, art exhibitions, festivals, or other tourist-related activities. Additionally, request authority for the Director, Tourism Development Office to negotiate and sign all necessary grant agreements, budget change requests, and related documents to support the grants upon County Attorney and Risk Management Approval.
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Summary Explanation and Background:
The Cultural Support Grant Program is designed to promote cultural tourism in Brevard County by funding tourist-oriented cultural and special events such as visual and performing arts including theater, concerts, recitals, opera, dance, art exhibitions and other tourist-related activities. The grants are administered by the Cultural Committee of the Tourist Development Council in coordination with Brevard Cultural Alliance. The grant program assists applicants in attracting tourists to attend high quality cultural events in order to generate significant economic impact through participant spending.
The Cultural Committee at their August 24, 2021 meeting and the Tourist Development Council at their August 25, 2021 meeting unanimously recommended the Board approve funding the following FY 2021-2022 Cultural Support Grant Program applications as well as make the necessary legislative findings for each grant listed at Attachment (A).
During the prior grant cycle, the Board asked for more detailed information on Return on Investment (ROI), or a calculation of the visitor spending that reflects the season/event impact of out-of-county visitor’s on Brevard County tourism. This request has resulted in significant changes to the Cultural Support Grant Program Guidelines. These include:
o Events/Activities must be held in-person with in-person attendees
o Main purpose to attract out-of-county visitors to Brevard County
o Virtual or Media events will not qualify
o Out-of-county visitors must account for 20% of total visitation or 1,000 guests
The Cultural Support Grant Program Guidelines also require applicants to establish and track ROI by measuring visitor attendance and spending.
This updated information is found in Attachment (B), this document includes Total Score, Average Score (Total Score divided by the number of Committee who scored that application), Trimmed Mean, Cultural Committee Funding Awards (8.24.2021), Adjusted Award Funding (8.24.2021), and Airsage Reported Attendance Outside Brevard County (out-of-county attendees to the event or program) for each application. Additionally, listed is the Spending and ROI per application. This number was calculated by taking the number out-of-county attendees multiplied by an average spend number ($53.62) which came from a 2019 Economic Contribution study produced for the Brevard Cultural Alliance.
The FY 2020-2021 Cultural Support Grant Program had 40 applicants who were all funded. This year, after the requested adjustments to the guidelines, there were 23 applications submitted, 17 were awarded funding. There were four groups that were disqualified and not get scored by the Cultural Committee because they did not reach the minimum requirement of 20% of total visitation or 1,000 guests. Additionally, there were two applications that were scored by the Cultural Committee who did not meet the minimum score of 80 and thus were deemed ineligible for funding consideration.
All of the 17 applications have been approved by both the Cultural Committee and TDC, and funding will be on a reimbursement basis. The awards were based on the approved funding tiers listed in the Guidelines. The tiers are determined by the number of out-of-county visitors that attend the event/season. As per the tier system, an applicant’s event/season that draws 1,000-2,500 out-of-county attendees will be eligible for $2,500, an applicant’s event/season that draws 2,501-5,000 out-of-county attendees will be eligible for $5,000, an applicant’s event/season that draws +5,001 out-of-county attendees will be eligible for $10,000. After allocating the appropriate funds per their out-of-county attendees to each application the Total Funding request of all approved applications totaled $112,500. The budget amount for the FY 2021-2022 Cultural Support Grant Program is $150,000. The Cultural Committee, at their August 24, 2021 meeting, voted to an equal, proportionate adjustment to all approved applicants resulting in the full spending of the $150,000 budget. Revised award funding is listed on Attachment (B), column labeled “Adjusted Award Funding 8.24.2021”.
Clerk to the Board Instructions:
Please return a memo of the Board’s action to the Director, Tourism Development Office and County Attorney’s Office.