Presented by Phil Dunlap, Broward Cultural Division Director
By Megan Fitzgerald
Art and culture shared the spotlight during the Broward County Cultural Division’s second annual State of the Arts Address on Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.
There, the Cultural Division announced a historic budget increase, an expansion the division’s annual IGNITE Broward festival, a new $1 million fund for arts and cultural festivals, and the launch of the Broward Arts Metaverse, a three-dimensional virtual space that enables people to explore works from the county’s public art collection digitally, and a look back at the achievements of the past year, including its BAJA (Broward Arts Journalism Alliance) program.
“Let there be zero doubt that the state of the arts is strong,” says Phillip Dunlap, director of the Broward County Cultural Division, “And getting stronger.”
Michael Udine, Broward County commissioner, who credited the Cultural Division and Cultural Council as setting the tone for “making Broward County a great place to live, a great place to work, and a great place to raise a family,” announced that the Broward County Board of Commissioners committed $1.7 million in recurring funding to the Cultural Division’s budget.
“The arts give back immensely,” says Udine. “Our investment in them is an investment in our residents, visitors, businesses, and all of you.”
With the increased funding, the Cultural Division will create a special events sponsorship program to help launch arts and cultural festivals throughout Broward County communities, which will include money for already established events and assistance for new festival programming.
The goal is to provide funding support for festivals and events where the majority of featured artists and participating vendors are Broward based.
“Our goal is to bring cultural opportunities to every corner of the county, ensuring equitable access to funding and fostering a resilient arts ecosystem,” said Dunlap.
Dunlap also shared that last year the Cultural Division invested more than $6.7 million in grant funding for 90 arts organizations and a total of $408,000 to 84 artists of various disciplines. Applications for the next cycle of grant funding are now open at Broward.org/arts.
Additionally, the annual IGNITE Broward festival, which began in 2022, has been expanded to 10 nights, running Friday, Feb. 14 through Saturday, Feb. 23, with locations in Fort Lauderdale, Dania Beach, and Hollywood. Dunlap says the free light and art festival, presented in partnership with MAD Arts, will be the biggest yet.
The Cultural Division is also focused on increasing accessibility and interaction, according to Dunlap. Working with technology company imx3, the Cultural Division unveiled the Broward Arts Metaverse, BAM for short, which is the first public arts metaverse in the world.
“The Broward Arts Metaverse is a virtual world where from anywhere on a web connected device like your phone or computer, anyone can instantly be transported to key locations around the county, like our parks, the Port, and the airport to experience public art in ways that cannot be done in real life,” said Dunlap.
With five works of art currently featured in the metaverse, 30 more pieces of public art will be added to the metaverse collection in 2025.
The Cultural Division also announced the creation of a new arts data portal to bring local arts sector information together in one place and the new public art dashboard allows people to see who is awarded grants and where the funding goes geographically.
The address provided updates on the planned West Broward Cultural Center in a building that previously housed the Young At Art museum. Senator and Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller announced that the design phase kicked off last month.
“The state-of-the-art facility will be an incubator for creativity and innovation,” said Geller. “It will be in Davie on State Road 84 providing much needed cultural resources to communities west of I-95.”
Dunlap also announced other new initiatives including:
- Wilton Manors joins 15 other Broward County cities with a public arts ordinance. Dunlap says this approach “ensures that arts and culture thrive, not just in geographical pockets,” but throughout the county.
- A public art lighting installation on Andrews Avenue bridge in Fort Lauderdale will be unveiled. The artwork, by Los Angeles-based artist and architect Susan Narduli, features dynamic lighting that will change colors with the time of the day. The project, which uses energy-efficient LED technology, is also expected to improve public safety with increased visibility for cyclists and pedestrians.
- Two new public art installations were completed in 2024, “Lefty and Lucy,” by sculptor Joshua Wiener in Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek and “A Journey,” a terrazzo floor artwork in Terminal 1 of Fort Lauderdale International Airport was completed by Marielle Plaisir.
- The Cultural Division received a 2024 achievement award in “Culture and Historic Preservation” from the National Association of Counties for its 2023 inaugural State of the Arts address.
While Dunlap acknowledged that the arts, in general, have had a tough year in Florida with the state cutting all arts funding, he says that Broward is fortunate in part due to the work of the County Commission, which continues to increase resources for art and culture through the Cultural Division.
“Despite any challenges we may face, we have the support, we have the team, and we have the partners here to continue the legacy of arts in Broward County and to make it stronger than ever,” said Dunlap.
This story was produced by Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA), an independent journalism program of the Broward County Cultural Division. Visit artscalendar.com for more stories about the arts in South Florida.
Author: Megan Fitzgerald, PhD, Associate Professor
