- December 4, 2025
Over 30 cultural organizations in Volusia County had a total of $611,000 of grant funding pulled by the County Council after some officials expressed concern with two theaters hosting third-party drag shows and Pride events.
The council was set to vote via its consent agenda on Tuesday, Oct. 7, on the award of the 2025-2026 community cultural grants, based on recommendations from the Cultural Council of Volusia County, an advisory board. A total of 33 organizations — including the Ormond Memorial Art Museum, Ormond Beach Historical Society, Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Playhouse and the Daytona Beach Symphony Society — applied for grant funding, total requests of which were over $1.4 million. The Cultural Council recommended funding for $611,758, the same amount as last year's grant cycle.
Earlier this year, the County Council made a change in the grant process. Rather than the funds be used for operations and the cultural organizations themselves, the council voted to fund specific programs.
County Councilman Danny Robins pulled the item from the consent agenda, and during a presentation, showed screenshots of DeLand's Athens Theatre website advertising third-party events held by DeLand Pride, including film screenings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and pre-show drag performances on Oct. 30-31, as well as a Mister and Miss DeLand pageant held Sept. 30. At the bottom of the webpage, the theatre listed Volusia County as a partner. The icon has since been removed.
Robins also showcased an advertisement for a 2025 Mister, Miss and Mx Volusia Pride Pageant held at the Shoestring Theatre in Lake Helen on June 28.
He said he believed the county has "a moral and societal obligation to promote the arts," but not like this.
"You got enough money to do one thing but you're coming to us for another," Robins said. "And to me, that's not being a good steward of tax dollars, as the person that weighs in on approving some of this stuff, especially when these programs get hijacked and the art and culture community is being used to promote an agenda. But it's my moral obligation to prevent that from happening and to protect the arts and the culture as it should be."
After three failed motions — one to approve the funding as is, one to approve funding for all except the grants for Athens Theatre and Shoestring Theatre, and another to approve all funding but make this grant cycle the last ever — the council voted 6-0 during its closing comments to revert the $611,000 back to the general fund and asked for staff to provide direction on where to utilize those dollars. Council Chair Jeff Brower suggested the funds be used for road and sidewalk improvements.
Athens Theatre, which is owned and operated by nonprofit Sands Theater Center Inc., had applied for $31,066 of grant funds for six performances: "Legally Blonde", "Sweeney Todd", "Holiday Inn", "Alice in Wonderland Jr.", "Steel Magnolias" and "Sound of Music." Shoestring Theatre applied for $8,766 for its Lake Helen walking tour and its 2025-2026 program series, which includes "Fiddler on the Roof", "The Lion in Winter", "Cinderella: Enchanted Edition", "Moon Over Buffalo", and "Arsenic and Old Lace."
None of the Pride events singled out by Robins were part of the grant applications.
But Robins said he didn't care if the grants were "direct funding, indirect funding, advertising, third-party vendor, general fund, or ECHO."
"I want these funds, if I'm putting my name on them, to go to healthy family-orientated arts and culture learning and education experiences — period," Robins said, adding he wasn't seeking to stifle free speech or expression; he just doesn't want it on the taxpayers' dime.
Craig Uppercue, a former artistic director of the Athens Theatre and current president of the Volusia County Cultural Alliance, explained that the Sands Theater Center Inc. nonprofit presents six family-friendly shows a year. The other part of their business acts as a rental venue, operating under Athens Theater LLC, which pays taxes.
"The County Council asked for all cultural groups to be more self-sustainable and so being a rental house is something that makes you more self-sustainable," Uppercue said.
The grant funds, Uppercue said, go toward the nonprofit.
When asked by Robins, Athens Theatre Development Director Grace Boynton said they do have a vetting process in place for rentals.
"We make sure that everything we bring in is something that we feel good about and feel good about producing at the Athens, but I think a problem here is 'family-friendly' is pretty subjective," she said.
"It's not to me," Robins interjected.
"But it is," Boynton said. "I think it's hard to really put a definition to family-friendly because something that's family-friendly to me might not be family-friendly to other people."
Numerous representatives from other county cultural organizations spoke before the council, asking them to continue to fund the arts.
It's not been an unusual plea in the Volusia County Council chambers in recent years. In 2023, the County Council briefly considered eliminating, or restructuring, the Cultural Council. Then, in 2024, the topic resurfaced again after a county staff report placed the advisory board as one that could be eliminated or consolidated.
Ormond Beach resident and Volusia County Cultural Alliance board member Julia Truilo said Volusia has long been a place where culture has played an important role.
"Part of raising children is choosing what to expose them to and when," Truilo said. "We are in a moment in when we are asking that parents be more and more empowered in what their children see, hear and do, but in order to make those choices, there have to be choices to make."
Each organization has delineated how they intend to use the grant funds, she said.
"Not all offerings will appeal to all comers, but all are equally necessary for a rich cultural climate, one that contributes to quality of life and as you heard so many people say, economic success," Truilo said.
Lloyd Bowers, a member of the Cultural Council, said he was concerned about the programs highlighted by Robins as county code prohibits discrimination based on personal gender identity and sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations.
"Our county definition of public accommodation includes theaters," Bowers said. "So if that is a concern, then let us look at it, working with legal, to see if that's appropriate."
Brower said the council's "moral obligation" is to spend taxpayers' money wisely. Funding art, while important, he said, is not one of the county's "core responsibilities."
"I think we need to take this $611 (thousand) and move it to the $5 million that we have for roads, sidewalks, for support — because we have very limited funds to maintain our roads," Brower said. "For me, that's more of a core responsibility."
Councilman Matt Reinhart said he understood where Brower was coming from, but that he disagreed. Funding cultural arts is a core responsibility.
"Every year we fight for this," he said. "Every year, I vote for this, and I can tell you that this is not a different year."
He made a motion to approve all the grant funding, but it died for lack of a second.
Councilman Jake Johansson asked about laws that may bar the council from placing restrictions on certain events. County Attorney Mike Dyer said it was possible.
"My recommendation would be that, rather than picking and choosing winners, or non-winners, I think it goes back to the question, 'Does council want to support program rather than picking and choosing?'" Dyer said.
Johansson said he didn't want to spend $611,000 a year of taxpayer dollars on cultural arts. But, he also said that they've spent a lot of time laying out expectations for the Cultural Council, knowing that the desire was to eventually wean off funding in a gradual approach.
"Here we are getting ready to pull the rug right out from it," Johansson said. "That's just not the way I appreciate doing business."
He made a motion to approve all the grant funding except for the grants for Athens Theatre and Shoestring Theatre, with the goal to discuss future policies for the next grant cycle, but the motion failed 4-2, with Johansson and Reinhart voting yes.
Then Councilman Don Dempsey made a motion to approve all the funding but make this year's grant cycle the last. This failed due to lack of a second.
During closing comments, Brower said the decision to withhold funding weighed heavily on him.
"I say this because I know it did every one of you too," he said. "I could feel it right after the vote. There was almost a heaviness across this council, and not because you regretted your vote, but because you have friends that were out there."
But, he continued, the council has said they want to wean the cultural arts groups off county funding. There are organizations with "tremendous" endowments that were slated to receive funding, he added.
"I think we made the right call, even though they're going to have a hard night tonight in figuring out what's the next step," Brower said. "I think it will benefit the county and them in the long run."
