MEDC pays almost $2.8 million in arts funding

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation approved sending at least 22 taxpayer-funded grants in 2025 to arts and theater organizations across the state.

The grants, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, totaled $2.79 million and ranged from a few thousand dollars to a multimillion-dollar payment.

The largest award went to Midland Center for the Arts Inc., which received $2.5 million. The complex offers theater performances, museum exhibits and cultural programs.

This is not the first time state taxpayers have subsidized Midland’s art center.

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State records show that the organization has collected more than $7 million in state funding since 2020, including a $5 million legislative earmark from the 2022 state budget.

The grants administered were part of the state budget approved by the Legislature, Danielle Emerson, public relations manager at the MEDC, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

The Michigan Arts and Culture Council is the state government's lead agency charged by state law with developing arts and culture policy and grant-making since 1966, Emerson said. “The MEDC has no decision-making or oversight role over the Council or its staff.”

“Art is too subjective to rely on taxpayer subsidies,” Mike LaFaive, senior director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told CapCon in an email.

One person’s Rembrandt is another man’s Dog’s Playing Poker or Velvet Elvis, LaFaive said.

The various arts grants are spread across councils and cultural groups throughout Michigan. Several organizations received multiple payments.

The Croswell Opera House & Fine Arts Association in Adrian received three separate grants totaling $37,589.

Lansing’s Lions & Rabbits Center for the Arts received two grants totaling $48,350: a $38,350 payment and another $10,000 grant.

The Shiawassee Arts Council received $27,400 and the Lake Effect Community Arts Center in Manistique received $32,500.

TempleArts of Saginaw received $39,450.

Other recipients included:

• Fontana Chamber Arts of Kalamazoo: $24,300
• Arts Council of White Lake: $17,500
• Detroit Theater Organ Society: $17,500
• The Arts Marketplace at Studio Park, Grand Rapids: $10,500
• Gaylord Area Council for the Arts: $10,000
• National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Washington, D.C.: $6,000
• Michigan Theater Foundation, Ann Arbor: $5,250
• Kalamazoo Arts Council: $4,500
• Greater Flint Arts Council: $3,900
• Holland Area Arts Council: $3,900
• Coopersville Area Arts Council: $2,750
• Ann Arbor Civic Theater: $1,687
• The Mecosta County Council for the Arts: $1,485.