Visual arts

The following piece is excerpted from the second of a two-part article written for the Community Arts Network, “The New New Deal.” Part one, published in December 2008, was titled, “the New New Deal: Public Service Jobs for Artists.” It described some of the things artists could do with public-service jobs. This excerpt is from part two, published February 24, 2009, “A New WPA for Artists: How and Why.” In this excerpt, Goldbard takes up the question of “why,” what are all the good reasons to support a new WPA for artists.

Bill Ivey chaired the National Endowment for the Arts from 1998 through 2001, directed the Country Music Foundation from 1971 to 1998, and was twice elected chairman of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He presently serves as founding director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University.

Claudine Brown wants us to shore ourselves up with knowledge and examples of how much arts and culture are linked to everything we do. With this in mind, she offers us her own kit bag of reasons for sustaining arts and culture programs—and it's a big bag.