New poll results from a study conducted by the Council on Culture & Arts (COCA) show that the majority of voters support Leon County’s arts community and COCA.
The results come as the Leon County Commission continues to decide whether it will renew its contract with the organization or take on its operation in-house.
The poll was launched roughly two weeks after the commission held a five-hour discussion about the organization’s future. Pollsters called up 353 voters, and an “overwhelming majority” said they “strongly oppose” giving up control of arts and cultural grants to the county, according to a press release.
“These results send an unambiguous message to the Leon County Commission,” said COCA Executive Director Kathleen Spehar. “The public understands the value of keeping arts grant decisions in the hands of independent professionals.
“COCA has served this community for 40 years with exactly that model — and voters want to keep it that way.”
At the May 12th county commission meeting, commissioners debated whether the county should oversee arts and cultural grants instead of COCA. The commission decided to postpone its decision and host a workshop to fully debate the issue after at least 50 people flooded commission chambers to show their support for the arts and COCA’s mission.
And this rang true in the poll results.
“Arts and culture matter overwhelmingly to Leon County voters,” the press release says. “When asked how important arts and cultural programs are to the overall quality of life and economic health of Leon County, 88.7% of respondents said very or somewhat important — including 60.6% who said very important.”
Roughly 78.5% of respondents also said they oppose or lean toward opposing a shift to county control over decisions about arts and cultural grants, poll results show.
“It’s great to hear that people love what we’re doing, and we want to continue to do it, and they want us to continue to do it,” Spehar told the Tallahassee Democrat in an interview.
Supporters of shifting the arts grant process argue that bringing it in-house under Leon County and Visit Tallahassee would strengthen oversight, improve efficiency and better align public dollars with broader economic goals. County staff and administrators have said the move could save more than $200,000 annually while allowing arts funding to be more closely tied to tourism marketing and visitor impact.
Opponents, including dozens of local artists and organizations, counter that removing the grant-making role from the COCA risks undermining a decades-old, community-based system that emphasizes local creativity over tourism metrics. They argue COCA keeps funding decisions insulated from political pressure and ensures decisions are made by those who have deep understanding of the arts.
Spehar said they’ve been meeting with county staff and commissioners and listening to the community in efforts to reach a compromise that’ll keep the arts organization alive and thriving.
Ahead of the June 16 meeting, COCA has been asking its supporters to continue to reach out to leaders advocating for the organization as well as asking people to attend the meeting as a visual sign of support.
The county said reviewing programs, such as COCA, “to ensure public dollars deliver the greatest effectiveness” is a part of developing any budget. The upcoming workshop will explore three models for COCA’s grant program, and every model preserves COCA.
Model one explores the idea of moving operations in-house under the division of tourism and having COCA continue to operate during a one-year transition period; model two provides insight on what it would look like if COCA remained in charge of grant processes but worked collaboratively with the county to create grant guidelines; and model three describes keeping the status quo, according to county agenda materials.
“The In-House model offers the largest fiscal efficiency, the clearest lines of Board authority, and integration with the Division of Tourism’s existing grant and marketing capacity, along with the most extensive transition and the assumption of functions currently performed by COCA,” the agenda says.
County staff also wrote that keeping the status quo is the “fastest path” to a renewed contract, but it wouldn’t address any of the concerns that commissioners raised.
“Our community’s deep support for arts and culture reflects decades of significant, deliberate county investment — a commitment that now totals approximately $2.1 million every year for cultural programming,” County Administrator Vince Long said in a statement.
“The question before the board is one of financial oversight, and whether more efficient and collaborative delivery models can serve this community even better.”
What are the poll results?
Pollsters from Cherry Communications — a Tallahassee-based public opinion and survey research firm — called voters between May 31 and June 3 to ask them three questions. “The sample was designed to reflect the county’s demography and has a margin of error of 5.2 percent,” the press release says.
Question 1
How important are arts and cultural programs to the overall quality of life and economic health of Leon County?
Question 2
Who should make decisions about which arts and cultural organizations receive public grant funding?
Question 3
The Leon County Commission is considering a proposal to transfer control of arts and cultural grant awards from the Council on Culture & Arts (COCA) to a division of county government. Do you support or oppose this proposal?
Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: COCA points to poll as county workshop considers its future
Reporting by Elena Barrera, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Elena Barrera, Tallahassee Democrat | USA TODAY Network
