Orlando – The Orange County Commissioners unanimously passed a vote to provide the Orlando Fringe Festival with a $75,000 grant. Fringe, along with 25 other organizations, was approved for a grant Oct. 14 that is funded through the use of Orange County’s tourism tax dollars.
Fringe has been receiving this grant for the past couple of years, making Orange County the largest funding source for the festival.
“A majority of it is for marketing so that we are able to attract tourist that are in the Orange County area to attend fringe while they are here,” said George Wallace, executive director for Orlando Fringe
Wallace said along with marketing, the funding will help provide for the rental of the park and theaters that host the artists who perform at Fringe.
The grant is a long process and competitive. Organizations applying for the grant must turn in an application and have to present in front of a panel. There are three different tiers of grant funding that can be received depending on whether the organization can funds provided.
“Part of each dollar that is spent in Orange County when people are staying in hotels, a certain percentage of that tax money, goes toward supporting the arts, and I have to thank Orange County for supporting the arts and being so progressive about that and on every level,” Wallace said.
Wallace hopes to start making use of the grant by late November.
