Federal Art Project

(noun)

The visual arts arm of the Federal Project Number One (under the Works Progress Administration) operating from August 29, 1935 until June 30, 1943. Through the program, artists created posters, murals, and paintings, some of which still stand among the most-significant pieces of public art in the country.

Related Terms

Examples of Federal Art Project in the following topics:

  • Painting

    • When the Great Depression hit, president Roosevelt's New Deal created several public arts programs.
    • The first of these projects, the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), was created after successful lobbying by the unemployed artists of the Artists' Union.
    • The PWAP lasted less than one year, and produced nearly 15,000 works of art.
    • It was followed by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (FAP/WPA) in 1935, which funded some of the most well-known American artists.
    • Precisionist artists have also been referred to as "Cubist-Realists", "Sterilists", and "Immaculates", and their art would have an influence on the magic realism and pop art movements.

  • Culture in the Thirties

    • The first short-lived New Deal program that supported cultural projects was the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) that run from December 1933 to June 1934.
    • PWAP was replaced by the Federal Art Project (FAP), one of the cultural programs under the 1935 Works Progress Administration (WPA) and a much more ambitious and expansive arts program that its predecessor.
    • FAP provided funding for artists and artisans to create murals, easel paintings, sculpture, graphic art, posters, photography, theater design, and arts and crafts.
    • FAP was part of the Federal Project Number One, a WPA umbrella program that supported not only visual arts but also literature (under the Federal Writers' Project), music (the Federal Music Project), and theater (the Federal Theater Project).
    • Writers, musicians, and theater artists were funded to create both their own original projects and projects under the auspices of the government.

  • Tax-Supported Art

    • In the USA and Canada, grants are available to fund artistic projects in all media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, theater, music, dance, new media, and interdisciplinary art forms.
    • In the United States, the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the federal government that offers funding to projects it deems exhibit artistic excellence.
    • In Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts funds the projects of artists in much the same way as the NEA, but allots more funding to the arts based on population.
    • In addition to the Canada Council, the provincial and municipal branches of the Canadian government also award grants to artists and arts organizations for a variety of arts-based projects and activities.
    • Project grants are intended to cover the immediate costs of a project as well as the living expenses of the artist for the duration of the project.

  • Federal Grants and National Efforts to Influence the States

    • In the United States, federal grants are economic aid issued by the federal government out of the general federal revenue.
    • Project grants—grants given by the government to fund research projects, such as medical research.
    • Certain qualifications must be acquired before applying for a project grant and the normal duration is three years.
    • Categorical grants are distributed either on a formula basis or a project basis.
    • For project grants, states compete for funding; the federal government selects specific projects based on merit.

  • Private Patronage

    • A patron of the arts is a person who pays for or commissions works of art.
    • A patron of the arts is a person who pays for or commissions works of art, and commonly refers to the support that kings and popes provided to painters, sculptors, musicians, and poets.
    • Since ancient times, patronage of the arts has been important to the development of many artistic movements, works, and styles.
    • Art patronage has also been important for art associated with various religious groups, especially the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, both of which have sponsored numerous schools and specific works of art and architecture.
    • Both private and public granting bodies exist for artists, and require minimal endorsement, though it is generally required that their patronage of a specific project be publicly known.

  • Political Art

    • Political art in the nineties was a form of protest for the feminist movement against patriarchy and women's exclusion in the arts.
    • Emerging forms of feminism and feminist art of the time was particularly influential to activist art.
    • The notion that personal revelation through art can be a political tool, guided activist art in its study of public dimensions and private experience.
    • Conceptual art sought to expand aesthetic boundaries in its critique of the art object and the commodity system within which it is circulated as currency.
    • Grounded by strategies rooted in the real world, projects in conceptual art demanded viewer participation and were exhibited outside of the traditional and exclusive space of the art gallery, thus making the work accessible to the public.

  • Digital Art

    • Digitized text, raw audio, and video recordings are usually not considered digital art on their own, but can be part of larger digital art projects.
    • Digital visual art consists of, firstly, 2D visual information displayed on a monitor, and secondly, information mathematically translated into 3D information and then viewed through perspective projection on a monitor.
    • There are many software programs that can enable collaboration, lending such artwork to sharing and augmentation so users can collaborate on a project to create art.
    • Some resemble video installations, particularly large scale works involving projections and live video capture.
    • By using projection techniques that enhance an audience's impression of sensory development, many digital installations attempt to create immersive environments.

  • Toward a Welfare State

    • Prominent projects include the Lincoln Tunnel, the Robert F.
    • The Federal Project Number One created jobs for writers, musicians, artists, and theater personnel.
    • Under the Federal Writer's Project, writers cataloged archives, documented folklore, and collected what today would be labeled as oral histories.
    • Under the Federal Theater Project, actresses and actors, technicians, writers, and directors were able to produce plays.
    • Many of these works of art can still be seen in public buildings around the country, along with murals sponsored by the Treasury Relief Art Project of the Treasury Department.

  • Government Assistance Programs

    • In the United States, federal assistance is defined as any federal program, project, service, or activity provided by the federal government that directly assists or benefits the American public in the areas of education, health, public safety, public welfare, and public works, among others.
    • In order to provide federal assistance in an organized manner, the federal government provides assistance through federal agencies.
    • These are called federal grants or awards.
    • Given the enormous size of federal assistance provided, the Federal government has designed different types of grants, each with its own unique way of awarding and operating.
    • These include project grants, formula grants, and earmark grants.

  • Architecture of the Qin Dynasty

    • Versatility in federal structures was emphasized to create a sense of authority and absolute power.
    • This allowed for the construction of ambitious projects, such as a wall on the northern border, now known as the Great Wall of China.