IMMERSE Gets $12.5 Million Tourist-Tax Boost to Dream Bigger

Back in August, Creative City Project founder Cole NeSmith told Bungalower that tourist-tax funding wouldn’t change what IMMERSE does. It would change how big it could dream. Now those dreams can get a little bigger. Orange County commissioners voted 6-1 Monday to approve a new round of Tourist Development Tax funding that includes $12.5 million for Creative City Project’s IMMERSE Festival over the next five years. Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad cast the lone dissenting vote on the broader package. The final amount is less than the $22.5 million Creative City Project originally requested, but it still represents a major long-term investment in the Downtown Orlando arts festival. Of the $12.5 million, $4.75 million will come through an existing Blockbuster Grant and $7.75 million from future TDT revenue, according to the county’s funding plan. When we spoke with NeSmith in August, while the funding was still uncertain, he told us the goal wasn’t to reinvent IMMERSE