Information-to-Use

► County-by-County List of Qualified 2016-2017 DCA Grant Applicants

► 2016 Florida Legislative

Platform for Arts & Culture

► County-by-County List of

2015-2016 DCA Grantees

► A Few Facts to Use

► County-by-county contact list

of Florida Legislators -- locate your county on the worksheets at the bottom of Excel file.

FL Senate Directory Excel

FL House Directory Excel

► AFTA 2015 Creative Industries Reports for Florida Counties

► Contact Information for (TED) Subcommittees

► Contact information on 2015 Florida Legislative Leadership

► What you can and cannot do as an arts advocate (PowerPoint) and here.

► Know who your senator and representative are in the Florida Legislature and Congress -- go here.

► Florida Senate

► Florida House

► Governor's Office

► Florida Division of
Cultural Affairs

► Florida Cultural
Alliance

► Americans for the Arts

Please become a FCA member today and support our statewide advocacy efforts to advance arts and culture.

Join the Arts Action Fund here for federal arts-issue updates and action alerts.

Please make a contribution to the Florida PAC for Arts & Culture here to make it possible for this PAC to make campaign contributions to Florida Legislative candidates.

Also, please make a contribution to the Arts Action Fund PAC for congressional candidates.

How do I connect to this call and know who is participating on it?

Call Date:

Monday, January 11, 2016

Call Time:

9:58 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Call-In-Number: 712-775-7031 and then enter 441247#

PLEASE have your computer on and this agenda opened. We will refer to the links and documents below during the call. Thank you.

Who is participating on this call and from which Florida counties?

Go here to see who is on this call. Thank you for participating.

Guest Speakers on today's call:

Dr. Jim Zingale will give us the latest state revenue projections for FY 2016-2017, and review the issues that will be discussed and debated during this year's Florida Legislative Session regarding the development of Florida's 2016-2017 budget.

Frank Meiners, lobbyist for us with Capitol Hill Group, will quickly update us on some Florida Legislative bills that have been introduced for 2016 legislative action that will impact our industry and the changes to come in Senate districts. Bills are still being introduced for this year's Florida Legislative Session. We're researching bills now and will send you a separate email with links to the bills we're tracking. If you know of any 2016 Florida Legislative bills that you believe are important either positively or negatively to our industry, please email us the information at info@FLCA.net. Thank you for your cooperation.

Morgan Lewis will review the upcoming Division of Cultural Affairs' and Citizens for Florida Arts' upcoming Convening Culture Conference 2016 Celebrating Diversity Through Florida Arts & Culture on February 1 and 2 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Details and registration here.

What are you doing to advocate for the necessary appropriations needed to fully fund the 2016-2017 DCA grants?

A. Review and discuss suggested checklist.

B. Go here to access images and suggested copy to use on your social media networks (special thanks to Marialaura Leslie and Jody Leshinsky for their assistance).

C. Participate in Arts & Culture Day on January 26 at Florida's State Capitol. Please register now and make your hotel reservation. There is power in numbers.

D. Specific county alerts sent last week -- please follow through with the suggested actions outlined on those alerts. Quickly review sample Alert here.

E. Resources to reference and use in your communications with key Florida Legislative Leadership, members of the TED appropriations subcommittees, and your legislators:

1. 2016 Florida Legislative Platform for Arts & Culture (big thank you to Jody Leshinsky and Andy Royston with Broward Cultural Affairs' Division for their fabulous work on our advocacy materials) ;

2. List of all the recommended 2016-2017 Division of Cultural Affairs (DCA) grants for the county/counties the legislators represent.

3. Quick overview of the number of grant requests by DCA grant categories for each county on the Table of Contents for FCA's 2016-2017 DCA County-by-County List;

4. AFTA 2015 Creative Industry Reports for Florida;

5. The State of the Florida Traveler Special Edition 2015;

6. Cultural tourism 2-page informational piece;

7. What they say -- quotes of support for our industry;

8. Invest in Arts & Culture cover for their individual packets

9. The Florida Department of State 2016-2017 Grant Book of Ranked Grants' Lists for Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and Historical Resources.

D. Quick look below at what is recommended for 2016-2017 Florida Division of Cultural Affairs (DCA) grants
in the four grants-funding categories:

DCA Grant Programs -- click on the grant-funding category below to access specific ranked list:	# of DCA grant applicants that qualify for 2016-2017 grants by category --	State Investments Needed to Fully Fund these 2016-2017 DCA Grants:
Cultural and Museum Grants	413	$30,933,457
Culture Builds Florida Grants	80	$1,682,209
Cultural Facilities Grants	37	$11,906,424
Cultural Endowment State Matches	2	$480,000
Subtotals:	532	$45,002,090

Many thanks to Curtis Young and Patty Warren at the DCA for providing the data available to FCA to create these reports and to Broward County Cultural Affairs Division for their help to elevate the look of our advocacy materials this year.

Reminder -- have you done these advocacy steps that we have suggested to you over the last few months?

1. Know who your Florida Representative and Senator are in the Florida Legislature. Learn about them and the committees they serve on. Find your county worksheet at the bottom of this Excel file for detailed information on the legislators who represent your county in the Florida Legislature .

2. Make sure you have your Florida Representative's and Senator's and their key legislative staff members' in your email and address books (included on Excel file in #1).

3. Join their Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, newsletters/updates sign up, and other social media sites they might participate in.

4. Check to see if you have legislators who represent your county in Legislative Leadership or who serve on either the House or Senate TED appropriations subcommittee. Add them to your email and address books.

5. If possible, schedule face-to-face meetings with your legislators to ask them to help secure appropriations needed to fully fund the 2016-2017 recommended DCA grants.

6. Use the resources above under #3E that FCA used in its face-to-face meetings.

7. Focus the policy makers' attention to:

a. the specific name/s of the DCA funding category where your or your county's organizations are being recommended for DCA grants' funding for 2016-2017;

b. how these grants leverage the other necessary matching public and private dollars needed for cultural organizations' operations;

c. ask them to speak to the chairmen of their respective

1. Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittees (TED): Senator Jack Latvala and Representative Clay Ingram

2. Speaker of the House Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner

3. Chairmen of Appropriations: Senator Tom Lee and Representative Richard Corcoran

to please support the full 2016-2017 appropriation requests needed to fully fund all the 532 recommended DCA grants as outlined on our statewide 2016 Florida Legislative Platform for Arts & Culture.

8. Pay attention to your emails from now throughout legislative session for specific county alerts and suggested actions and future FCA Briefings and Alerts.

Quick Update on Federal Issues:

A. NEA, celebrating its 50th birthday, was increased to $147.949 million.

B. The budget for the U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education program also increased to $27 million -- a $2 million increase.

C. Made permanent the IRA Charitable Rollover

-- permanence will give certainty and spur new and increased charitable donations to social service programs, religious organizations, arts and culture institutions, schools, healthcare providers, and the full array of nonprofits that serve Americans every day. The eligibility in the agreement is the same as previous law: 70 � years of age and a maximum of up to $100,000 given directly to a charity of choice per taxpayer in any tax year. Additional information.

D. Every Student Succeeds Act Signed by President Obama

After 14 years, The No Child Left Behind Act has been replaced with a new Elementary and Secondary Education Act called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which passed both the U.S. House and Senate and signed by President Obama last week.

AFTA Blog that outlines where the arts fit into this new education act.

Press release from The White House

Please mark your calendars.

Please mark your 2016 calendars for our monthly FCA advocacy and information-to-use statewide conference calls.

Each monthly call is scheduled on a Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET. They are subject to change, but here are the dates we've scheduled for 2016:

February 8

March 14

April 18

May 16

June 13

July 18

August 15

September 12

October 17

November 14

December 12

Other 2016 Dates Through March To
Include On Your Calendars:

January 12 thru March 11 -- 2016 Florida Legislative Session in Tallahassee

January 26 -- Arts & Culture Day in Tallahassee -- register here to participate.

February 1 & 2 -- Florida Division of Cultural Affairs/Citizens for Florida Arts' 2016 Convening Conference at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale -- go here for details and registration.

March 7 & 8 -- National Arts Advocacy Days in Washington, D.C. --

from YOU?

Link

Florida Cultural Alliance

Post Office Box 2131

West Palm Beach, Florida 333402-2131

561-848-6231

info@FLCA.net
www.FLCA.net

Contact: Sherron Long, president