Tallahassee - July 23, 2012 - 11:49pm

Monday night local candidates spent some time in a speed-dating-like situation. It wasn't to get to know each other for dinner and a movie, but a way for their constituents to get to know them and their thoughts on local arts.

The forum was hosted by the Council on Culture and Arts. It included candidates for state, Tallahassee and Leon County races. About every 15 minutes, residents would switch between groups of candidates and ask questions about the cultural community in Tallahassee. One topic that came up was the closing of the Mary Brogan Museum.

"One of the problems, the challenges that the museum faced partly is the way it was designed, to fit arts and culture in the same place, and a lot of museums across the country you have a distinct arts museum and a distinct science museum," said Andrew Gillum, who currently holds Seat 2 for the Tallahassee City Commission.

"There have to be things that have to get cut, either that or you're going to have to find a way to raise taxes and neither sounds like what neither wants to hear," said Nicholas Halley, who is running against Gillum for Seat 2 on the Tallahassee City Commission.

"I personally feel we all have a budget and things are really tight in the city and in the country, I don't think you can satisfy every body's needs," said David Riddle, who is also in the race for Seat 2.

Voters will head to the polls for that race on August 14th. The forum was held at the FSU Museum of Fine Arts.

The forum also included candidates for:

- City Commission Seat 1: Eric Friall, Bob Fulford, Delaitre Hollinger, Scott Maddox, Daniel Parker and Steve Stewart.

- County Commission Seat 1: Akin Akinyemi, Emily Fritz, Mary Ann Lindley and Fred Varn

- County Commission District 2: Jane Sauls, Kirk Headley-Perdue

- State Rep: District 7: Jamey Westbrook

- State Rep: District 9: Bradley Maxwell, Michelle Rehwinkel-Vasilinda

- State Senate: Bill Montford, John Shaw