presents 2,000 events, 365 days a year, reaching 600,000

largest presenting, producing and educating performing arts in Southeast;

robust arts education and programming

outstanding new initiative:  Straz Salutes; project with Diavolo Dance; partnership with MacDill and Veteran's Hospital

delivers programs in 8 counties; Patel Conservatory is accredited by SACCS

no debt since 1996; annual campaign raises $6.8 million

impressive in-kind advertising; $1.1 million

Loved the vision statement!   Outstanding support materials

• Well-written grant; thank you! Easy to read.
• It helps to know how each of your objectives and activities are quantifiable (i.e., what are the specific measurable ends for each within the grant’s time frame)? Goals list more broad statements; objectives separately list desired, measurable outcomes (e.g., Increase participation in educational outreach programs by 15%, to 3,500 participants, over the grant period). See grant guidelines.
• Nice depth in, and quantity of, partnerships.
• The grant lists eight counties where the proposal's programming takes place. To clarify: Activities will physically take place in EACH ONE of the EIGHT counties?
• Again in this year's proposal, I appreciated well-outlined impact stats. Last year’s application focused, in part, on a push for more ethnic diversity, but didn't show much disclosure of diversity. Kudos on a disclosure of more diversity in this year's proposal.
• Previous fiscal year = $3.4 million cash on hand. I understand that is for non-allowable capital expenses and payments to accounts payable and accrued expenses. Beyond capital expenses, does this cover accrued expenses that make up the $1.5 million projected, combined deficit within the current and next fiscal years?
• Thank you for very well done support materials. These gave a good glimpse into the vast array of your terrific and sensitive programming.

This mission statement knocked my socks off - concise but impactful.

I would have liked to see the goals included in your narrative instead of referring to an attachment. Attachments are helpful supplemental materials, but should not replace answering the questions themselves. The space limit was 5000 characters and you used just over 4000 of them, so there was room to include goals.

Straz Salutes - amazing initiative!

Similar to the comment above, I would liked to have seen more about your school partnerships in this section instead of referring me to an attachment.

Impact section - What does it mean to bring "Best artists to FL"? What are your criteria?

Also in the Impact section - I questioned that the Tampa Bay region had a larger population than the Miami region or Jacksonville, so I checked population figures on florida-demographics.com and the US Census Bureau. The official definition of "Tampa Bay Region" includes Hillsborough and Pinellas plus Hernando and Pasco, however the "media market" includes the 8 counties you checked above. Stating the population of the Tampa Bay Region as being over 4.4 million (thus larger than Miami proper or Jacksonville) - assuming you meant the "media market" - seems overblown for the sake of making an impactful statement. Not deducting points for this, but be aware that the statement did not read as truthful to me.

Strong fiscal responsibility and evaluation methods. And thank you for being one of the few to balance your budget!