Eric Doten, chairman of the Arts, Culture, and Heritage Funding Panel, announced to Historic City News that four more applicants will be recommended for funding from the local option tourist development tax when the Tourist Development Council holds its re-scheduled business meeting on Monday, August 26, 2013.
Dissatisfaction with what some are calling a subjective process, allegedly rife with favoritism, led to recent complaints by some organizations who question the methods employed to distribute the millions of dollars annually in bed tax money, the choice of which organizations will receive funding, and which will not.
Historic City News published details of written complaints from the City of St Augustine Beach, the St Augustine Beach Civic Association, the St Augustine Art Association, Romanza and the Celtic Music and Heritage Festival, which were aired during the funding panel meeting on Monday, August 12, 2013.
Cut from the original list of applicants vying for a share of $500,000; four more non-profit arts, culture and heritage requests will receive funding panel recommendations — not because they were re-evaluated, but because the panel lowered the qualifying score.
Added to those events previously reported by Historic City News:
Chamber of Commerce ($8,328 for the Ponte Vedra Auto Show)
St Augustine Beach ($25,000 for the Beach Blastoff)
Limelight Theatre ($23,334 for four productions)
St Augustine Orchestra ($10,480 for its Celebration of African Music)
Before any grants are awarded, these recommendations, which have now cleared the private St Johns Cultural Council and the appointed Arts, Culture, and Heritage Funding Panel, must receive a determination from the appointed Tourist Development Council that providing money to the applicant will further the development, advancement, improvement, or promotion of tourism. Then, if approved next week, the recommendations must still be approved by the Board of County Commissioners; prompting many Historic City News readers to comment that the several levels of bureaucracy, below the Board of Commissioners, only serves to make the process overly cumbersome.
If you plan to attend, the meeting of the St Johns County Tourist Development Council will be held on Monday, August 26, 2013 at 1:30 p.m. in the County Auditorium at the St Johns County Administrative Palace located at 500 San Sebastian View in St Augustine. The meeting is open to the public and public comments may be made in accordance with the agenda.
Funding panel score cards, obtained by Historic City News from the Tourist Development Council Executive Director, Glenn Hastings, showed a wide variance in some panelists’ evaluations of the same applications. An audio recording of that meeting, when the scores were discussed, reveals irregularities in the scoring process; including changes up or down, to independently derived scores by panel members — after hearing comments from other members in discussion.
Achieving a perfect score: 100%
30 max – cultural development programming and presentation
30 max – marketing and advertising plan to attract visitors
25 max – program schedule relative to demand period
5 max – lodging and hospitality partnerships
10 max – demonstrated program management capability
| Event |
Requests |
Adkins |
Doten |
Humphrey |
Shockey |
Wild |
Average |
| Concerts In The Plaza |
$10,000 |
100 |
85 |
80 |
100 |
92 |
91.4 |
| Auld City Gaelic Festival |
$60,000 |
95 |
85 |
85 |
100 |
90 |
91.0 |
| Changing Of The Guard |
$6,000 |
100 |
90 |
84 |
91 |
85 |
90.0 |
| St Augustine Chalk Walk |
$25,000 |
95 |
88 |
85 |
93 |
87 |
89.6 |
| Searles Sack |
$8,500 |
100 |
85 |
84 |
91 |
85 |
89.0 |
| Colonial Grand Muster |
$8,500 |
100 |
85 |
84 |
91 |
85 |
89.0 |
| 450 Years African American Experience |
$60,000 |
90 |
80 |
85 |
95 |
92 |
88.4 |
| SA Film Festival |
$10,000 |
77 |
86 |
85 |
100 |
94 |
88.4 |
| Drakes Raid |
$7,000 |
100 |
80 |
84 |
91 |
85 |
88.0 |
| British Nightwatch |
$10,000 |
90 |
81 |
80 |
100 |
87 |
87.6 |
| St Augustine Music Festival |
$24,000 |
85 |
81 |
85 |
95 |
88 |
86.8 |
| Sea Your History Weekends |
$60,000 |
72 |
95 |
75 |
100 |
85 |
85.4 |
| Taste Of St Augustine |
$10,000 |
68 |
85 |
85 |
98 |
90 |
85.2 |
| Bed And Breakfast Holiday Tour |
$18,000 |
60 |
74 |
R |
99 |
86 |
79.8 |
| Race In The South: SA In Context |
$60,000 |
60 |
83 |
67 |
92 |
84 |
77.2 |
| Sea Community Annual Festival |
$10,000 |
76 |
65 |
65 |
86 |
86 |
75.6 |
| Romanza Festivale |
$30,000 |
50 |
85 |
80 |
65 |
90 |
74.0 |
| Gathering Of Friends – Childrens |
$10,000 |
90 |
76 |
60 |
63 |
80 |
73.8 |
| SAB Music By The Sea |
$10,000 |
67 |
80 |
68 |
65 |
88 |
73.6 |
| SA Maritime Heritage Festival |
$10,000 |
73 |
50 |
65 |
90 |
86 |
72.8 |
| Book Festival Writers Conference |
$44,045 |
53 |
80 |
65 |
80 |
84 |
72.4 |
| 35th Concert Season |
$10,000 |
67 |
65 |
60 |
77 |
89 |
71.6 |
| PV Auto Show |
$10,000 |
43 |
81 |
65 |
R |
88 |
69.3 |
| SAB Beach Blastoff |
$30,000 |
62 |
65 |
55 |
83 |
80 |
69.0 |
| Limelight 4 Performances |
$28,000 |
50 |
65 |
63 |
82 |
80 |
68.0 |
| St Augustine Orchestra |
$12,582 |
36 |
49 |
60 |
92 |
92 |
65.8 |
| SAIRA Food And Wine Festival |
$10,000 |
43 |
68 |
60 |
66 |
84 |
64.2 |
| Celtic Music Heritage Festival |
$30,000 |
50 |
75 |
80 |
17 |
92 |
62.8 |
| Easter Parade |
$10,000 |
49 |
55 |
55 |
75 |
80 |
62.8 |
| Plein Air Painting Comp |
$4,000 |
51 |
60 |
45 |
77 |
80 |
62.6 |
| 48th Art And Craft Festival |
$60,000 |
51 |
68 |
45 |
64 |
80 |
61.6 |
| Holiday Regatta |
$7,500 |
90 |
40 |
45 |
47 |
80 |
60.4 |
| Farm-2-Table |
$4,000 |
20 |
55 |
50 |
77 |
88 |
58.0 |
| PVB Home Art & Design Week |
$3,000 |
56 |
55 |
42 |
39 |
75 |
53.4 |
| Spring To The Beach |
$2,500 |
38 |
35 |
47 |
59 |
80 |
51.8 |
| Holiday Creations And Shoppes |
$3,000 |
44 |
35 |
55 |
41 |
80 |
51.0 |
| Last Good War |
$2,500 |
45 |
45 |
32 |
62 |
55 |
47.8 |
| Blessing Of The Fleet |
$1,500 |
53 |
35 |
30 |
35 |
78 |
46.2 |
Discover more from HISTORIC CITY NEWS
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.