Tallahassee producer cancels publicly funded show. What’s next?
More and more questions are surrounding a canceled, publicly funded concert that was supposed to be a celebration of blues and funk music.
Indaba Theatre and Associates, a Tallahassee-based nonprofit organization led by Donna Cotterell that offers performing arts programs and summer camps for youth, received $570,550 in Tourist Development Tax revenue, of which about $142,750 was earmarked for hosting the Far Out Funk and Blues Fest.
However, the music festival faced challenges from the start. Due to the grant application, it was originally scheduled for January 6 at the Adderley Amphitheater, but was then postponed to July 26 and moved to the Tucker Civic Center.
Cotterell, the festival’s event producer, said the event was underfunded from the start. Despite modest donations and calling in favors that fell short, Cotterell said she canceled the show a day before it began — even though several of the artists had traveled to Tallahassee to perform and receive their full payment.
The lineup included Jane Eugene, Pharaohs of Funk, Scottie Clinton, Nellie Tiger Travis and others. The festival was organized by Visit Tallahassee and the Council on Culture & Arts, which highlighted the event in its regular feature in the Tallahassee Democrat.
In the end, Cotterell said, she was about $9,000 short of the show’s funding.
“The money was spent,” Cotterell said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “I paid for airfare and hotel, and all the artists got a 50% deposit of their performance fee when they were booked, when the contract was signed. So they all got a 50% deposit up front.”
Cotterell, a local activist who once ran unsuccessfully against veteran Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor, said the thought of the show not having to go ahead was “just hard for me.”
“I know this is going to be a death knell for other black-led organizations trying to get funding from the city or county for their programs,” Cotterell said. “I hate that this is falling on me because I never, ever wanted anyone to think, ‘Oh, she wasted that money.’ All that money went to fund that event at the Civic Center.”
Now the clock is ticking. Cotterell was told she must submit a final expense report by Friday. Once more details are available, the Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), which provided the money, must consider its options – and that could include filing a lawsuit.
CRA had warned the organizer Cotterell
Concerns about the cancellation first emerged in a Capital Outlook column by event promoter and multimedia specialist Vaughn Wilson.
Five days after the festival was canceled, CRA director Stephen Cox wanted answers and sent Cotterell an email.
The agency was tasked by city and county commissioners with distributing the hotel bed tax grants to Indaba and a handful of other local nonprofits that applied for grants last year, including the Challenger Learning Center in Tallahassee and the LeMoyne Art Foundation.
Indaba – which in Zulu means “important meeting to bring the right people together at the right time to discuss the right issues” – had originally requested $1 million, according to application documents. Only a little more than half of that was funded.
Cox’s July 31 email to Cotterell said: “We really need to speak to you as soon as possible. Please let us know when you are available to speak within the next week, but no later than Friday 9 August 2024.”
He added: “Given the cancellation of the event, we need to determine the amount of the remaining grant funds and the amount of repayments. We also need as soon as possible a complete statement of all expenses with receipts.”
Cox said Cotterell provided few details about the incident prior to the requested meeting. More details were presented at the meeting.
“I’ll be honest: I wasn’t happy with all the answers, but we got answers,” Cox said. “I would say it comes down to a lot of bad decisions by the organizer that led to the situation she’s in now. She deviated from the agreed budget.”
Cox said the festival’s cost is estimated at about $144,000, which comes from the hotel bed tax. The event raised about $142,750 and the organizer must raise the rest.
He said Cotterell assured him and his staff that she could take over the rest, adding that he had no concerns until the date and venue in question were changed. But, he said, Cotterell indicated that she could go ahead and lead the festival’s production.
After last week’s meeting, Cox said Cotterell was told she had until Friday to provide the CRA with a final cost estimate for the concert. He added that it appeared the blues and funk festival would not have been cancelled if Cotterell had stayed within the agreed budget.
“She made decisions that put her in a position where she didn’t have enough money to actually do everything she wanted to do,” Cox said. “There’s not much we could have done on our part…”
“There will be consequences. We will talk to the legal department. We will talk to the board members of the CRA to see if they want to proceed with a lawsuit.”
Contact economic development reporter TaMaryn Waters at [email protected] and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
