Spoke with another source close to the arts community who has given me a fuller picture of the financial issues surrounding the Arts Council of Northwest Florida. Commissioner Valentino had approached several business leaders to help develop a group to create a system to measure outside agencies that were applying for county funds.
When the financial reports of the Arts Council were reviewed, it appeared that payments were being shown as having been made to various arts groups – Pensacola Museum of Art, Ballet Pensacola and others- that never made it to those organizations or not until months after they were shown on the Arts Council books.
When Comm. Valentino has informed of the possible discrepancies, he asked for the audit of the Arts Council. He and the other board members were unaware of the financial issues, since their reports showed the disbursements being made.
The Arts Council of Northwest Florida was organized as a fundraising group to pass through grants and funds to the different arts organizations in the community. There is an effort to reorganize the Arts Council and get back doing what it was intended to do. It’s uncertain if the funds that are still due the art organizations will ever be disbursed to them.