Funding arts and culture is a public investment at a rate of return most private investment vehicles can’t touch, let alone a city budget line item.
This isn’t money that circulates once and disappears. It moves through restaurants, hotels, parking garages, and small businesses across the city, and 40% of the attendees generating that spending are bringing outside dollars in from beyond our five-county area. That’s new revenue entering Jacksonville’s economy, not existing dollars shifting between neighbors.
That economic activity generates tax revenue, sales tax, tourist development tax, property tax growth tied to a vibrant downtown and neighborhoods. Revenue that helps fund roads, schools, and public safety, all without asking residents to pay more.
Revenue that helps fund roads, schools, and public safety, without asking residents to pay more. So, the choice isn’t “fund arts OR.” It’s recognizing that a well-funded arts sector is part of how the city pays for roads, schools and public safety in the first place.
These aren’t ONLY arts and culture numbers. They are infrastructure numbers, restaurants, hotels, parking, retail, and rideshare all benefit from the 2.1 million people arts and culture bring downtown and into our neighborhoods.
Every one of those 6,000+ events is a night when local businesses see foot traffic they wouldn’t otherwise get, an average of 17.5 events a day, citywide, year-round.
And the spending isn’t marginal. At $87.24 per person beyond the ticket price, we’re outperforming the national average of $35 by more than 2 to 1.
40% of attendees come from outside our five-county area, and they spend even more once they’re here, $136.36 per person. Just as valuable as tourism, development and sports funding, the Cultural Service Grant Program draws visitors and captures new spending.
Arts and culture organizations funded by the Cultural Service Grant Program (CSGP) support more jobs than the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department combined.
Real people hold these jobs: teaching artists, curators, box office staff, production crews, and arts administrators who keep Jacksonville’s cultural institutions running every day.
These roles also build tomorrow’s workforce. Creativity, adaptability, and problem-solving top every CEO’s hiring list, and they’re the same skills a strong arts sector cultivates. Every role funded through the Cultural Council is helping train the next generation of Jacksonville’s workforce to think, create, and compete at a 21st-century level.
The CSGP is a jobs program and a workforce development program, funded at a fraction of comparable city investments.
Behind every organization is a network of small businesses that make it happen: caterers, printers, sound and lighting techs, security staff, cleaning crews, and hundreds more.
A cut to arts and culture funding doesn’t just affect artists and institutions; it directly affects thousands of small business owners and their employees across the city, many of whom aren’t in the arts sector at all.
And unlike a single large employer or a one-time development project, this economic activation is distributed. It touches nearly every corner of Jacksonville’s small business community rather than concentrating benefits in one place.
Funding arts and culture is a public investment at a rate of return most private investment vehicles can’t touch, let alone a city budget line item.
This isn’t money that circulates once and disappears. It moves through restaurants, hotels, parking garages, and small businesses across the city, and 40% of the attendees generating that spending are bringing outside dollars in from beyond our five-county area. That’s new revenue entering Jacksonville’s economy, not existing dollars shifting between neighbors.
That economic activity generates tax revenue, sales tax, tourist development tax, property tax growth tied to a vibrant downtown and neighborhoods. Revenue that helps fund roads, schools, and public safety, all without asking residents to pay more.
Revenue that helps fund roads, schools, and public safety, without asking residents to pay more. So, the choice isn’t “fund arts OR.” It’s recognizing that a well-funded arts sector is part of how the city pays for roads, schools and public safety in the first place.
These aren’t ONLY arts and culture numbers. They are infrastructure numbers, restaurants, hotels, parking, retail, and rideshare all benefit from the 2.1 million people arts and culture bring downtown and into our neighborhoods.
Every one of those 6,000+ events is a night when local businesses see foot traffic they wouldn’t otherwise get, an average of 17.5 events a day, citywide, year-round.
And the spending isn’t marginal. At $87.24 per person beyond the ticket price, we’re outperforming the national average of $35 by more than 2 to 1.
40% of attendees come from outside our five-county area, and they spend even more once they’re here, $136.36 per person. Just as valuable as tourism, development and sports funding, the Cultural Service Grant Program draws visitors and captures new spending.
Arts and culture organizations funded by the Cultural Service Grant Program (CSGP) support more jobs than the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department combined.
Real people hold these jobs: teaching artists, curators, box office staff, production crews, and arts administrators who keep Jacksonville’s cultural institutions running every day.
These roles also build tomorrow’s workforce. Creativity, adaptability, and problem-solving top every CEO’s hiring list, and they’re the same skills a strong arts sector cultivates. Every role funded through the Cultural Council is helping train the next generation of Jacksonville’s workforce to think, create, and compete at a 21st-century level.
The CSGP is a jobs program and a workforce development program, funded at a fraction of comparable city investments.
Behind every organization is a network of small businesses that make it happen: caterers, printers, sound and lighting techs, security staff, cleaning crews, and hundreds more.
A cut to arts and culture funding doesn’t just affect artists and institutions; it directly affects thousands of small business owners and their employees across the city, many of whom aren’t in the arts sector at all.
And unlike a single large employer or a one-time development project, this economic activation is distributed. It touches nearly every corner of Jacksonville’s small business community rather than concentrating benefits in one place.
As the city's official Local Arts Agency, CCGJ administers the Cultural Service Grant Program (CSGP), the mechanism the city relies on to direct public arts funding to fiscally vetted, high-impact organizations. It isn't an add-on; its core infrastructure.
No. The CSGP is Duval County's only program of its kind, routing public dollars through one rigorous, merit-based process instead of scattered requests. 92% of program expenses go directly to services, above the 75–85% industry standard.
Yes, and the return proves it. Over five years, every dollar awarded has generated $29.17 in local economic activity, totaling $143.4 million last year, up from $103.8 million four years ago. That impact reached 5,644 Jacksonville residents earning income and 12,482 local artists working across the city.
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