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Cultural Development Board Meeting of February 06, 2018.
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PERSONAL APPEARANCES:
Barbara Stein, executive director of Actors’ Playhouse, introduced herself and expressed her gratitude for the Board’s support. Ms. Stein shared her concern that the last couple of years the Board has held the belief that large organizations may not have as much need for grant funding as smaller organizations, and referred to the eligible amount of funds for large Coral Gables based organizations being reduced from fifteen thousand ($15,000) to ten thousand ($10,000). She explained in detail the expenses organizations such as Actors’ Playhouse have to produce high quality productions and questioned whether it was a good idea to reduce funding for organizations that do so well. Ms. Stein further expressed the struggle to keep quality productions and still grow the organization. The Playhouse just celebrated thirty years, she said, and continues to bring many people to Coral Gables to see productions that are done better than anywhere else.
ARTS & BUSINESS COUNCIL:
Laura Bruney, president and CEO of the Arts & Business Council, introduced herself and responded to the previous comments regarding cultural grant funding, stating that as members of Americans for the Arts, the Council has arts advocacy talking points that can be used when speaking with others, including facts such as arts programming in Miami-Dade County generating 1.4 million in economic impact and 44,000 jobs in the arts. Ms. Cathers stated that while data specific to Coral Gables can’t be separated, the numbers speak to the County as a whole and overwhelmingly demonstrate the benefit that support of the arts has in Miami-Dade County.
CITY WEBSITE DESIGN:
Maria Rosa Higgins-Fallon, public affairs manager, and Rayza Collazo, IT specialist, greeted the Board to discuss and present an updated City website design. Ms. Higgins-Fallon stated that IT and the office of communications have been working with a professio...
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