Tampa Bay's Sen. Darryl Rouson prepares to fight for the arts in Tallahassee

It’s been a busy summer for Florida State Sen. Darryl Rouson, who represents sections of both Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties. The 69-year-old politician and arts advocate has been meeting with art students, working artists and arts leaders on both sides of the bay to address Ron DeSantis’ June 12 veto of Florida state arts funding. Rouson’s district, which includes downtown Tampa, Ybor City and downtown St. Pete, houses Tampa Bay’s most well-known arts attractions.

“I represent the Hard Rock, the amphitheater at the fairgrounds, the Straz, Morsani, Tampa Theatre, Improv in Ybor City,” Rouson told Hillsborough Community College students at a nonpartisan conversation about art and politics at HCC Dance Studio in Ybor September 6. “Then when you go across the bay, I represent the Dalí, Chihuly, Morean, Imagine, Great Explorations, the Mahaffey, the Palladium, American Stage. So when the governor cut and zeroed out the $32 million going to the arts programs, it hurt those in my district mightily.”

In response, Rouson called a Sept. 13 Pinellas County Legislative Delegation Meeting to hear from the local arts community. The goal: to come up with an argument for the arts that Florida state senators and representatives can take back to Tallahassee.

That afternoon, Rouson and his colleagues—the Florida state senators and house representatives who represent Pinellas County at the state level—heard from about 20 artists and arts leaders about how the arts impact Pinellas County.

Celeste Davis, St. Petersburg’s Director of Arts, Culture and Tourism, launched the discussion with an update on attempts to increase the arts budget in the City of St. Pete.

“Yesterday, Mayor Ken Welch and The City Council worked together to approve $695,000 additional dollars for arts organizations whose funding was vetoed by the state,” Davis shared. “We are known as the City of the Arts, and the mayor and city council are committed to supporting the arts community. We can't fill the whole gap that these organizations experienced, but we were able to provide some support for the arts organizations in our city that adds significantly to the economy and the quality of life for residents as well as our visitors. I am proud that we came together, artists and arts organizations, and spoke up and engaged the administration and city council. Together, we made it happen—an additional $695,000.”

Davis’ update served as a timely reminder that reaching out to local politicians can make a difference. We saw it in the fight for arts funding in the City of St. Pete and with the recent battle to save Florida State parks from becoming pickleball courts and golf courses.

Now, as Tampa Bay fights to restore arts funding at the state level, the big guns come out, starting with Dalí Museum Director Hank Hine.

The Dalí, which is the most visited art museum in the state of Florida, lost $70,500 in the state arts veto. In addition to organizing world-class art exhibitions, the nonprofit museum contributes to the arts education of K-12 students across 36 Florida counties via free field trips and student exhibitions, all of which Hine mentioned in his three minutes.

Creative Pinellas CEO Margaret Murray also took the mic. Her organization works behind the scenes, using tourism dollars to support art throughout the county. As such, Murray is well-versed in the connection between the arts and tourism in Pinellas County. She cited several statistics from Americans for Arts’ Arts & Economic Prosperity study, including that “nearly one in four of the 16 million annual visitors to Pinellas County enjoy an arts experience when they visit.”

The next most talked about argument came from an unexpected source—Kristen Kerr, painter, poet, financial consultant, and Founder & Director of Cultivate the Creative. Kerr’s nonprofit, formed in 2020, uses creativity to support the mental health and well-being of youth in South St. Petersburg’s foster care system. Kerr was the first to speak about the role of the arts in mental health and healing. It’s a subject dear to Sen. Rouson, who, as a recovering addict, has observed art’s positive impact on mental health in drug treatment facilities.

Rouson took notes while Kerr cited a decade’s worth of neuroscience research on art’s ability to reduce stress and anxiety, improve cognitive flexibility, and help individuals safely recall and process trauma.

“Creative modalities engage the entire brain, which allows individuals to safely recall and process trauma, especially if they have fear communicating it in traditional talk therapy settings,” Kerr explained. “In fact, modern neuroscience research shows that traditional talk therapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy, does not help all individuals reduce their traumatic symptoms because cognitive functioning is impaired by trauma and makes it difficult to recall and process memories.”

“Expressive arts treatment could be more approachable,” Kerr asserted, “teaching young people how they can naturally approach their creative practice to alleviate stress…”

It was an argument Florida state senators and representatives hadn’t heard before. Rouson took rapid notes, and Sen. Ben Albritton wondered out loud if there was any hard data showing the benefits of art in the foster care system.

The conversation continued through multiple speakers.

Filmmaker Tamia Iman Kennedy of Black on the Scene spoke up for the role of state arts funding in giving voice to diverse perspectives; Creative Loafing Tampa Bay contributor and former Editor-In-Chief David Warner spoke about how past state arts funding has enabled a thriving, world-class art scene in our state; SPC Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts Dr. Barbara Hubbard reminded the group of the importance of our art scene in providing local jobs for SPC students after they graduate; and businesswoman Liz Dimmitt of Dimmitt Chevrolet and Fairgrounds St. Pete stepped up at the last minute to mention the importance of a thriving art scene in attracting top talent to local businesses. Together, they linked art to tourism, jobs, innovation, equity, and mental health in Pinellas County. This is the ammunition Rouson and his fellow Pinellas County representatives will take to Tallahassee when state budget decisions are made. You can give them more.

There’s still time to tell your state representatives how having art in your community has positively impacted your life. As Sen. Rouson told HCC audiences last Friday, “No one will listen if you don’t speak.”

Not sure where to start? Tap into Creative Pinellas’ online advocacy toolkit at creativepinellas.org to find out who your local representatives are and how they can be reached.

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