Tourist Development Cultural/Arts Program

TDC/A Program Information

The Arts and Cultural Alliance manages the Tourist Development Cultural/Arts (TDC/A) grant making program each year to ensure that the process is fair, transparent and meets the goals and requirements of the program guidelines. As a result, the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) awarded 1.75 million dollars of tourist tax collections from hotels and short term rentals (less than six months) last year to support exciting arts and cultural programming.

Program Purpose

  • Offer exciting arts/cultural programming
  • Attract tourists to Sarasota County
  • Maintain Sarasota’s place as a cultural center

Guidelines and Eligibility

Basic qualifications to apply include:

  • 501 (c) 3 and operating as a non-profit for at least one year
  • One-to-one dollar match (25% in-kind)
  • Activities must occur in Sarasota County
  • Programming must have an artistic/cultural purpose that appeals to tourists

View the TDC/A FY 24 Draft Guidelines (to be finalized upon BCC approval in January 2023).

Additional Information Materials:

APPLICATION HERE: sarasota-arts.gosmart.org/

To view last year’s proposals: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kzaIhzLlteO0w5CcWDWAvyglyzHA2EFG

This link is provided to serve as an illustration of previously submitted applications and represents a range of scores from “very high” to “barely recommended” for funding. Keep in mind that these are examples of the original applications only. When the application narrative was unclear, additional questions were asked in writing and during individual interviews.

Please direct all TDC/A questions to Fern Tavalin, TDCAgrants@sarasotaarts.org.