Issue 7: Federal Project Number One, and Vaccines
Not much to speak of this week, so I wrote about Federal Project Number One and the impact that it had.
Happy Sunday everyone! This newsletter is getting sent out a little later than usual, because I’ve spent the weekend hanging out with friends from college, and celebrating the marriage of another good friend from college. What makes this all worth mentioning is that I had a lot of in depth conversations about the arts, and how we’ve all been displaced in different ways. Hearing everyone’s stories about how they’re trying to figure out how to teach theatre with out the intimacy and personal nature of theatre, leaving the arts entirely, taking up new things to do within the arts world, and just biding time until it all returns. How do you teach actors to connect, when half their face is behind the mask? How do you pay rent when your normal source of income suddenly is gone with no similar jobs to turn to? The conversations we had were cathartic, frustrating, and informative. Every artist has struggled in completely different ways, and yet there is something comforting about the fact that we’re all going through it together. After a year and a half of not seeing any of theatre friends, it was nice to finally have a sense of normalcy, even if only for a night.
Get a COVID vaccine, folks.
There isn’t much to talk about this week, if I’m being honest. We’ve hit that dead period where Congress is only working on the infrastructure bill, and preparing for recess, and legislation kind of comes to a lull. Notably, this past week we saw all 41 Broadway theatres announce they’re requiring vaccinations and masks for audience members. The unity of this policy is so important in helping it to be successful. Everyone needs to be on the same page if the industry is going to remain open.
Federal Project Number One
Last week, I wrote about the Works Project Administration (Read last week’s newsletter here!), a creation of FDR’s New Deal, which had the responsibility of creating jobs for workers affected by the Great Depression. Federal Project Number One was enacted by the WPA in 1935, and lasted through 1939 when the WPA was reorganized. The goal of this project was to provide work for actors, musicians, writers and others not suited for the typical WPA construction-type work. From Federal Project Number One came programs like the Federal Theater Project, the Federal Writers’ Project, the Federal Art Project, and the Federal Music Project. Over the next couple of weeks, I will dive into each project specifically to speak of the impact it had, and what art came out of it. Today, lets explore the merits of Federal Project Number One as a whole. According to The Living New Deal, the WPA’s downfall was in fact Federal Project Number One.
“Ultimately, it was not charges of boondoggling that brought down Federal One, but rather the concern of conservatives in Congress that the project was a haven for communists (especially with respect to the Federal Theatre Project) and, for southerner representatives, a “dangerous” promotion of racial mixing. With the Emergency Relief Act of 1939, an antagonistic Congress “forbade the spending of Federal funds for the operation of theater projects and directed that no funds be spent after August 31, 1939 for the operation of any project sponsored solely by the WPA.”
It’s laughable. Yet, for many artists, it is an all too familiar refrain. As Americans, perhaps stemming from this false fear that the arts harbored communists, we’re taught growing up that of course government doesn’t sponsor the arts. Yet, government investment in the arts sparked what a lot of people look at now as the “golden age” of entertainment in the 1930s and 1940s. Typically throughout history, art projects require a certain amount of local money in order to obtain federal funds for a project. Federal Project Number One turned that on its head. In an effort to act as a true stimulus program, the WPA decided that Federal Project Number One was to be one singular, national project, with no requirements for local funds. This is the first instance of the government truly being a patron of the arts in a significant way.
Arts for America calls this project a “lightning rod” for criticisms of FDR and the New Deal. Yet, for as long as possible until Congress withdrew funding, FDR and WPA Head Harry Hopkins, stood by the artists. The over-arching goal of this project was to show local communities that the arts were important and worth investment. Arts for America has the following lines about the project,:
“Federal Project Number One stands as a testament to the vaulting ambition and expansive values of the New Deal. It seemed to proclaim that just because people stopped attending concerts or buying novels in times of extreme want didn’t mean these weren’t vital to well-being. Invited to hear a free symphony concert, or write an original play, Americans could hope for more than mere survival. ”
This is so important, and something that I’ve told to every single political and law-maker I’ve spoken to in the last year and a half. Arts of all forms are so vital to the collective mental health of our communities. Arts act as a vice in some way, shape, or form for every single person. Art can be a beacon for hope, and the promise that the world offers, even when everything seems so dark. As artists, it is so easy to do a contract somewhere, and not consider the impact that our work is having on that community. The happiness art provides communities may not have a physical representation, but it damn sure is important. All the money spent at surrounding businesses before and after a show is incredibly important to a community. We, as artists and art lovers, need to speak more about how our job is valuable. Laughs are valuable. Smiles are valuable. Community happiness is valuable.
Next week, I’m going to write about the Federal Theater Project, and how, despite incredible criticisms, it continued to keep artists employed and save the arts during the Great Depression. Have a great week!
Kelcey
Sources
1. Reuters Article about Broadway requiring masks and vaccinations
2. The Living New Deal entry about Federal Project Number One