In every community, there are public leaders who recognize the value of arts and culture. Then there are leaders who actively elevate them, invest in them and weave them into the fabric of civic life. For the last eight years in Orange County, that leader has been Mayor Jerry L. Demings.
This year, Mayor Demings received national recognition through the Americans for the Arts Public Leadership in the Arts Award—a well-deserved honor that reflects years of steadfast support for the cultural sector.
His nomination highlights a record of achievement that has transformed the landscape for arts and culture throughout our region.
From the perspective of United Arts of Central Florida, Mayor Demings’s leadership has been both visionary and tangible.
During his tenure, the county increased its Tourist Development Tax allocation for arts and culture from 3% to 5% of the first four cents of TDT revenues—generating more than $11.5 million annually for cultural programs and organizations.
Overall, the county’s investment in arts and culture has grown dramatically, reaching more than $35 million annually and supporting dozens of organizations, cultural tourism initiatives, facilities projects and programs focused on diversity, inclusion and sustainability.
What stands out most to me is that Mayor Demings understood something that many leaders miss: Arts funding is a community investment, not an expense.
Just look at the numbers. Arts and culture nonprofits and their enthusiastic audiences within Orange County generate $265 million in direct economic activity and 4,900 jobs, according to a report by United Arts of Central Florida and Americans for the Arts.
Under Mayor Demings’s leadership, the county has committed more than $125 million toward capital projects that have helped museums, theaters and cultural institutions renovate, expand and dream bigger than ever before.
He also championed Orange County’s Challenge Match for the United Arts Collaborative Campaign for the Arts, leveraging public investment to inspire private philanthropy and deepen community engagement.
For me, this recognition is also deeply personal. Having worked alongside Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs since its inception, I have witnessed firsthand the evolution of a county government that increasingly understands the role of arts and culture in economic development, tourism, education and quality of life.
Mayor Demings will be the first to admit he did not create that vision alone—but he amplified it, championed it and ensured that it remained a priority at the highest levels of county leadership.
Perhaps that is his greatest legacy: Not simply funding the arts but helping the county to see itself as a cultural community worthy of investment, celebration and imagination.
