Festival of the Arts Boca drew 6,700 attendees and $1.2M local impact, director says

Joanna Marie Kaye, director of Festival of the Arts Boca, told the Boca Raton City Council on May 12 that the 2025 festival drew more than 6,700 attendees and produced measurable local spending.

Kaye said the festival’s out‑of‑ticket local spending totaled $260,048 — a figure she attributed to Americans for the Arts — and that the event recorded more than $213,000 in ticket sales. She told council members the festival’s total economic impact exceeded $1.2 million and that the operation purchased more than $200,000 of goods and services from Boca Raton businesses.

“The dollar figure comes from Americans for the Arts, and that is a figure that’s a number they spend outside of tickets,” Kaye said. “So that’s what they spend when they come to dinner and when they spend time in Boca Raton to attend the festival.”

Kaye said 21 percent of attendees were from outside Palm Beach County and 61 percent were from outside the city of Boca Raton, and she described strong digital and broadcast reach: more than 100,000 page views, about 47,000 users, and roughly 5.5 million television and radio impressions across local partners. She also noted the festival’s mailing list of more than 5,000 subscribers.

Kaye reviewed program highlights, including a Dallas Brass opening night with 103 local students, an Opera Gala featuring a Pavarotti competition winner, a world premiere by Nestor Torres and community outreach that involved school and FAU dance students. She described plans for the festival’s 20th anniversary in 2026 and said several returning artists have already been invited.

Kaye also raised a funding concern tied to the county bed tax, which helps underwrite the festival through Cultural Council and Tourist Development Council grants. “If you would like to talk with any of your people, your friends in the legislature, and tell them please keep the bed tax for arts and culture,” she said, adding that the grant is “very sizable” and important to the event’s budget.

Council member questions during the presentation focused on visitor origin and local transportation connections; Kaye said the festival does not have data on how many attendees used Brightline and did not know how many specifically used Boca Connect. She said festival materials do encourage use of local transit and suggested the city promote Boca Connect to attendees to reduce parking pressure in Meisner Park.

The festival director provided representatives’ contact and promotional metrics and said educational programming and youth participation were key strengths of the 2025 event.