An Open Letter to Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd
Regarding Transparency in Florida's General Program Support Grant Process
Dear Secretary Byrd,
We are arts and cultural organizations serving communities across Florida.
Many of us participated in the FY 2026–27 General Program Support grant process. Some received funding. Others did not. We represent different disciplines, organizational sizes, regions, and communities throughout our state.
We recognize a fundamental reality: there was not enough funding available to satisfy every request.
For FY 2026–27, 563 eligible General Program Support applications requested $51,894,865. The State ultimately appropriated $20 million, which was distributed among 187 applications.
Difficult choices were inevitable.
Our concern is not simply which organizations were funded and which were not. Our concern is whether applicants and the public can clearly understand how those final funding decisions were made.
Applicants participated in an established evaluation process. Eligible applications were reviewed and scored through public panel meetings. The Florida Council on Arts and Culture considered those recommendations, and the process then proceeded through the Department of State and Secretary of State.
The final FY 2026–27 awards were ultimately published in two separate funding lists totaling 187 applications.
As organizations invested in Florida's arts and cultural sector, we respectfully request a clear public explanation of what happened between the evaluation and scoring of applications and the creation of those final funded lists.
Specifically, we ask the Florida Department of State to publicly explain:
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What criteria were used to determine which applicants appeared on the Secretary of State's initial recommended funding list?
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What criteria were subsequently used to select organizations for the second FY 2026–27 funding list?
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Were factors other than application scores considered when determining the final recipients? If so, what were those factors and how were they applied?
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Who was responsible for making those selections and approving the final lists?
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What criteria should Florida arts and cultural organizations expect will govern this stage of the process in future General Program Support grant cycles?
We are not asking the Department to guarantee funding to every eligible applicant, even at a smaller amount than requested. Despite that being the norm until FY 2025-26.
We are not suggesting that organizations receiving awards were undeserving of those awards.
And we are not asking that funding simply be distributed from the highest application score to the lowest.
We are asking for transparency.
Florida's nonprofit and public arts organizations invest significant staff time and organizational resources into participating in this competitive state grant program. Their boards, employees, artists, educators, volunteers, donors, audiences, families, and communities should be able to understand the process by which public funding decisions are ultimately made.
If considerations beyond an application's public evaluation and score determine whether an organization ultimately receives funding, applicants should know what those considerations are.
Organizations should know the rules of the process in which they are being asked to participate.
Transparency does not guarantee that every applicant will agree with every funding decision.
It does ensure that applicants and Florida taxpayers can understand those decisions.
We respectfully ask the Florida Department of State to provide a public explanation of the FY 2026–27 selection process and to establish clear, publicly available criteria governing final funding selections for future General Program Support grant cycles.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned Florida Arts & Cultural Organizations
Center Stage Youth Theatre - Pasco County
Resource Depot, Inc. - Palm Beach County
Miami Short Film Festival - Miami Dade County
Emotions Dance Inc. - Orange County
Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra, Inc. - Lee County
Heathcote Botanical Gardens - St. Lucie County
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre - Palm Beach County
Armour Dance Theatre, Inc. - Miami-Dade County
Gainesville Circus Center - Alachua County
The Artist Series of Tallahassee - Leon County
Opera Orlando - Orange County