United Arts Of Central Florida Inc

Investing in the community: united arts's vision is that all people of central florida have access to arts, science, and history. To facilitate that vision united arts invests directly in the community through grant making, marketing and audience development, collaborative fundraising, and contract service opportunities. Combined with contract service opportunities, designated giving and matching funds, united arts invested nearly $11 million into the arts and cultural community in fy24 to help make art thrive. United art's grants support arts, science and history organizations and individual artists throughout the four-county region through both operating support and project grants. In fy24, the organization invested almost $5.0 million through the following funding programs: 1) operating support grants (osg) provide stabilizing operating support for the region's arts and cultural organizations with full seasons of programming and all operating budget sizes. In fy24, $2,329,700 in funding was awarded to 44 organizations. 2) project grants - this program provides funding of up to $5,000 for programs and events such as exhibitions, fairs and festivals that celebrate and honor the arts and act as a catalyst for change. All nonprofits are eligible to apply. The project must be rooted in the arts, sciences, or history. In fy24, united arts awarded $100,000 in project grant funding to 24 nonprofit organizations. 3) venue subsidy grants funded through support from orange county government, venue subsidy grants support the rental of performance venues throughout orange county. Fourty three organizations shared awards totaling over $500,000. 4) emerging grants provided operating support to smaller organizations. This program aimed to help the growth and stability of small organizations. In fy24, united arts awarded $55,000 to 9 organizations. 5) creative placemaking with the support of the city of orlando and the downtown development board united arts has with the aid of organizations and individuals brought art into the public spaces in the community from flower installations, affordable artist studios and street musicians. 6) cultural tourism with the support of visit orlando united arts has created a cultural tourism department whose aim is to promote the arts not only to local residents but to the many tourists who visit central florida each year.

Arts education programming: united arts facilitates curriculum-based k-12 arts education programming in the community through contracted services with local school districts and our funded organizations and teaching artists. United arts' arts education initiatives expose students to music, theater, dance, film, ballet, and museums of art, history and science. United arts largest education contract is with orange county public schools (ocps) to provide curriculum-based arts education services for ocps students in grades k-12 (contract amount - $596,322). In fy24, this contract facilitated k-12 curriculum-based arts education experiences for 90,101 students. United arts actively seeks grant opportunities to increase the breadth of arts education experiences each student will have and the number of students that are served each year in lake, osceola and seminole counties. For fy24, united arts received $30,000 in donor sponsored funding specifically for arts education experiences throughout lake, osceola and seminole counties, resulting in an additional 11,634 students having education experiences that they would not otherwise have had access to. Overall, 200 unique schools had arts education experiences and of this number 80 were title 1 schools. Making art possible in this education environment only serves as one more way to fulfill our vision of increasing access to arts, science and history in our community.

United arts provides programming that raises awareness for the arts, provides free marketing avenues to build audiences for the region's arts and cultural organizations, and provides earned income opportunities for arts and cultural organizations in the central florida region. Programs include: 1) artistry (previously known as orlando arts magazine) is a bi-monthly glossy publication (five issues per year) that acts as a reference and guide to arts and cultural happenings in the central florida region and to the individuals who make it happen. The magazine is a cultural tourism asset and is offered as a donor premium for contributions of $50 or more and 15,000 copies are produced per issue with 155 distribution partnerships. A digital version of the magazine is also distributed to visitor destinations.2) arts & culture calendar (previously known as orlandoatplay) is an events website serving the seven-county central florida region. The searchable website provides information on arts, science and history events as well as nature activities, farmers markets and public art. The site serves residents and visitors alike as a comprehensive site to go to when you are looking for something to do and provides the arts community with a central location to post information to share locally and nationally. 3) united artscard is an audience development tool and donor premium for contributions of $100 or more, the artscard provides discounted admissions and classes to over 20 participating area arts, science, and history organizations. Over 2,425 cards are distributed annually.4) grants management services a fee-for-service program where united arts lends its expertise in grants administration and management for other agencies wishing to provide grants to the arts and cultural community. In fy24, united arts managed almost $5 million in cultural tourism grant awards for orange county arts and cultural affairs. 5) capacity building programs united arts facilitates workshops and capacity building opportunities to assist arts and cultural organizations with operational, fiscal and governance challenges.