United Way of Escambia County is very transparent in how it handles the $125,500 that it gets from the City of Pensacola ($30K) and Escambia County ($95,500). A set of volunteers on its Human Services Appropriations Committee reviews the applications of non-profits and determines how to dole out the limited funds.
Here are the 2009/10 recommendations,UWY, the cover letter sent to the BOCC, UWYletter, and the supporting detail, UWYdetail
The County and City should require a similar information from whatever organization takes over the funding for the arts.