The Arts & Cultural Affairs office is responsible for administering Orange County's investment in the arts and culture of our community. The office works with the Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Council to study ways to promote artistic excellence in the County; to review funding requests for the arts and cultural facilities; and to recommend allocation of funding for arts and cultural events, activities and facilities from both designated tourist development tax funds and general fund revenue.

• Arts & Cultural Affairs Office
  450 E. South Street, Suite 345
  Orlando, FL 32801
  P: (407) 836-5540
  F: (407) 836-5554
  
  Overview of Our Office

New Items of Interest:

Public Art Treasure Caches
Find clues from this website to hidden caches near various sculptures and public art objects around the county.  In each box is a journal where you can leave your mark and the date you found it.  There is also a stamp that you can use to stamp your own journal or "public art" passport.  After you have written in the journal, and drawn something or stamped it, put the cache back where you found it so the next person can have the pleasure of finding it and putting in their mark.

Cache Instructions & Clues
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The Great Public Art Challenge (April 12, 2008)

Use the following clues to see if you can find these pieces of public art!

1)  Saint George can see this Chinese piece of public art from a red bridge.

2)  A Limo rides by this Wave of Communication panel everyday.

3)  These "historical" postcards are too big to be mailed.

4)  When you stand under this arch, you can watch the news on the side of a building.

5)  Soon you will be able to see a movie here after visiting these four statues.

6)  The mayor has a great view of this tower.

7)  This Runner is almost at the finish line.

To see if you have the correct answers, click here!

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Local Public Art
Map of Public Art

• Click here to go to Orange InfoMap. When you arrive click on the "Public Services" folder on the right and then on the "Art, Murals and Memorials" box (the first one in that file). If you also click on the little tag at the end of "Art, Murals and Memorials", the names of all the pieces will also be displayed on the map. Happy public art hunting!

• Staff
• Art in the Chambers
• Registry of Florida Artists
• StairWELLness Art Program

Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Council 

• Members
• Online Application
  • Instructions - When you arrive at the online application form, you will need to select "Arts and Cultural Affairs Advisory Council" for the section labeled: "Advisory Board(s) of Interest* Please select up to 3 different boards".
• Committees

Funding Arts and Cultural Projects

• Americans for the Arts (Outside Link)
• ArtistsRegistry.com (Outside Link)
• Arts & Cultural Alliance of Central Florida (Outside Link)
• City of Orlando (Outside Link)
• MyRegion.org (Outside Link)
• National Arts Program® (Outside Link)
• Orange County Regional History Center (Outside Link)
• Orlando Arts Getaway (Outside Link)
• Orlando Performing Arts Center (Outside Link)
• Red Chair Project (Outside Link)
• Third Thursday's (Outside Link)
• WMFE (Outside Link)
• United Arts (Outside Link)
• Local Arts & Culture Website Links (Outside Link) Listing of local Venues, Galleries, Schools, Museum's, etc.

If you'd like to purchase tickets to one of our many local arts & cultural organization events, please click here!

The Red Chair Project aims to unite arts and culture throughout Central Florida. It's a movement linking you to all of Central Florida's cultural organizations and bringing arts and culture to everyone in our area.  From classic ballet to independent film, from modern dance to poetic performance and musical delights, Central Florida has something to please all artistic cravings.

• Public Art Review Board
  Meets four times during the year to approve the Orange County Public Art Action Plan (MS Word - 25 KB), CIP artist recommendations and Art in the Chambers exhibitions each year.
  
• Advocacy Committee
  Works to identify legislative issues in the arts which should be brought to the attention of the Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Council and the Board of County Commissioners.  It may develop grass-roots advocacy mechanisms.
  
• Education & Community Resource Committee 
  Looks at all the aspects of arts education in our community and meets six times during the year to oversee the direction of various Action Teams towards meeting the objectives of the Arts Access for All (PDF - 2 MB) strategic plan.
  
  • Community/Awareness Action Team
    Working on Objective #2 and #3 of Arts Access for All through various projects such as the Annual Principals Appreciation Breakfast and creating an arts infusion pilot school in Orange County.
    
  • Schools Action Team
    Working on Objective #4 of Arts Access for All through various projects such as a Summer Camp Fair and an Arts Education Job Fair.
    
  • Arts Education Resource Center Action Team
    Working on Objective #1 of Arts Access for All by creating a staffed Arts Education Resource Center.

• Arts & Economic Prosperity III: Central Florida Region (PDF - 3.95 MB)
  • One Page Summary (MS Word - 360 KB)
• Arts & Economic Prosperity III: Orange County (MS Word - 2.94 MB)
  • One Page Summary (MS Word - 161 KB)
    
• Creative Industries Report: 2007 Orange County (PDF - 684 KB)
• Creative Industries Report: 2007 City of Orlando (PDF - 688 KB)

• Orlando Sentinel Letter to the Editor
• 2007 State of the Arts Report (PDF - 1,185 KB)
• 4th Annual Employee Arts Contest sets records (PDF - 171 KB)
  • Program Brochure (PDF - 757 KB)
  • Winners List (PDF - 170 KB)
  • Reception Pic 1 (221 KB)
  • Reception Pic 2 (223 KB)
  • Reception Pic 3 (200 KB)
  • Reception Pic 4 (216 KB)
  • Reception Pic 5 (172 KB)
  • Reception Pic 6 (216 KB)
  • Reception Pic 7 (238 KB)
  • Reception Pic 8 (251 KB)

CULTURAL FACILITY GRANTS APPROVED

2007 Cultural Facility Grants:

• Winter Garden Heritage Foundation's Phase II Restoration of the Historic Garden Theatre
  Amount Granted: $250,000
  Olympic Score: 98.71
  
• CityArts Factory's Box Office, Lobby, Risers & Signage Project
  Amount Granted: $75,556
  Olympic Score: 89.86
  
• Association to Preserve African American Society, History & Tradition, Inc.'s Wells' Built Museum & House Facilities Enhancement Project
  Amount Granted: $192,000
  Olympic Score: 87.29

ARTS EDUCATION INITIATIVES

The office of Arts & Cultural Affairs has been extremely busy this past year putting into motion numerous arts education initiatives that aim to provide the community with equal access to arts education for all.  Some of the initatives undertaken this past year include:

• Principals Appreciation Breakfast (PDF - 256 KB)
• Arts Education Job Fair (PDF - 862 KB)
• Summer Camp Fair (PDF - 472 KB)

STATE OF THE ARTS IN 2007

The State of the Arts report was given by Terry Olson to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, August 28, 2007.

For a copy of the press release please click here. (PDF - 1,185 KB)