Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/180498
Sarasota News Leader September 27, 2013 — also at Robinson's request — that the documentation of endeavors to increase South County participation in the grants process be provided to the County Commission and the Tourist Development Council (TDC) at least seven days prior to the TDC meeting when the grants will be considered. The motion said that failure of the Arts and Cultural Alliance to provide that documentation in a timely fashion "may be cause to delay the decision of the awards …" Robinson ultimately joined her colleagues in unanimous support of the new contract with the Alliance. CONTINUING COMPLAINTS Page 48 2014 contract so she could bring up a number of points. "I'm still hearing from South County organizations that are struggling and having problems," Robinson said. During two County Commission meetings in 2012, prior to the board's approval of the annual arts grants, she told her colleagues that representatives of South County entities had expressed to her the difficulty of winning any of the grants, saying in some cases they felt they were at a disadvantage in competition with larger, well-established arts and cultural organizations in North County, especially those with staff members who understood the application process far better than they did. At the start of the County's Commission's regular meeting on Sept. 24 in Sarasota, Robin- In 2011, Robinson asked Jim Shirley, execson pulled the item regarding the Alliance's FY utive director of the Arts and Cultural Alli- Circus Sarasota has been a regular recipient of the county's arts and cultural grants. Photo by Norman Schimmel