In 2000, Volusia County residents voted to reinvest in cultural infrastructure by approving a tax referendum which will sunset in 2021. Since it was approved by voters in 2000, Volusia County’s ECHO (Environmental, Cultural, Historical, Outdoor) grant program has provided nearly $85 million to more than 200 projects that fall under the environmental, cultural, historical or outdoor recreation categories. More than $16 million has been spent preserving cultural places and performance spaces to fuel an exposure and love of the arts. In order to use an ECHO grant, an applying and receiving organization must raise the same amount of matching funds for the project and there is heavy criteria to make sure the mission of promoting arts and recreation is adhered to.
Resolution 2000-156 states: It is the intent of the County Council that the funds be allocated throughout the County to provide broad geographical distribution and apportioned appropriately among the environmental, cultural, historic, and outdoor recreation projects. The Volusia ECHO Program seeks to enhance the quality of life of Volusia County’s residents by working to achieve the following goals over a broad geographic base:
• Provide environmental/ecological, cultural, historical/heritage, and outdoor recreational facilities.
• Preserve significant archaeological or historic resources; and develop, enhance, and promote heritage tourism opportunities, experiences, and resources.
• Foster public memory and community identity by promoting and providing access to destinations and experiences associated with past events, peoples, and places within the County of Volusia.
• Provide high quality, user-oriented outdoor recreational opportunities including, but not limited to, access to the Atlantic Ocean through the establishment of oceanfront parks and off-beach parking.
• Improve the quality of life for Volusia’s citizens by providing access to the cultural arts; increase cultural based tourism; and encourage redevelopment and revitalization of downtown and urban areas through the provision of cultural arts facilities.
With the tax referendum’s planned sunsetting in 2021, the people of Volusia County have to make some decisions. Without extending this referendum, Volusia County would be out major dollars to reinvest in culture. In order for the initiative to continue, a public campaign must be mounted by members of the public.
Atlantic Center for the Arts
Expansion & Renovation of Atlantic’s Cultural Venues Complex $120,502
Daytona Playhouse
Daytona Playhouse Renaissance $400,000
Shoestring Theatre
Shoestring Black Box and Teaching Theatre $70,000 Theater Restoration & Upgrade $120,000
Enterprise Preservation Society, Inc.
Enterprise Heritage Center $41,000
City of Daytona Beach
Peabody Auditorium Renovation $300,000 Bandshell Stabilization $350,000 Midtown Cultural & Education Center $1,200,000 Yvonne Scarlett-Golden Cultural & Educational Center $600,000 Jackie Robinson Ball Park/Museum $500,000
Pioneer Art Settlement
Joseph Underhill House $239,643
Gateway Center for the Arts
Gateway Center for the Arts $402,854
Stetson University
Stover Theater Historic Renovation $388,522 Homer & Dolly Hand Art Center $600,000
Bethune-Cookman Foundation
Mary McLeod Bethune Home $259,600
Museum of Florida Art
Exhibition & Collection Care Facility Improvement Project $51,199
Heritage Preservation Trust
Lillian Place $425,000
Town of Ponce Inlet
Meyer-Davis House & Hasty Cottage/Post Office Restoration Project $223,195
Museum of Arts & Sciences
Children’s Museum $1,043,000
Cultural Arts Center, Inc.
Cultural Arts Center Facility Redesign $100,000
Daytona State College (Daytona Beach Community College)
Southeast Museum of Photography $1,308,048
Ormond Beach Historical Society, Inc.
Three Chimneys Archaeological Ruins Stabilization $26,500
City of Ormond Beach
The Casements & Rockefeller Gardens Restoration $500,000
DeBary Art League, Inc.
Gateway Center for the Arts $1,000,000
Historic DeLand, Inc.
Dutton House $234,800
Sands Theater Center, Inc.
Athens Theater Renovation Project $766,245
Leisure Services-Volusia County
New Smyrna Sugar Mill Historic Site $125,500
Enterprise Preservation Society, Inc.
Enterprise Heritage Museum Historical Schoolhouse Relocation $79,500
Lively Arts Center, Inc.
News Journal Center $600,000
City of Lake Helen
Creative Arts Café $156,626
Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts
Pioneer Settlement for the Creative Arts $184,720
County of Volusia
DeBary Hall Historic Site $735,000 Dunlawton Sugar Mill Historic Site $61,731
City of Port Orange
Amphitheater Pavilion Phase 4 $420,000
Bethune Cookman College
Performing Arts Center $500,000
Daytona Beach News-Journal
News-Journal Center $1,000,000
Little Theatre of NSB, Inc
Little Theatre Expansion $467,000
African American Museum
New Museum Complex-Phase I $100,000
Mainstreet
Athens Theatre Renovation $500,000
