By Taylor Dafoe, Artnet, October 4, 2021
Looking to the New Deal for inspiration, lawmakers in Congress have proposed $300 million in workforce grants that would put unemployed art workers back on the job.
Inspired by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Creative Economy Revitalization Act, or CERA, would establish a program within the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act that would give grants to artists and cultural organizations for public projects. The funds, which would come from department of labor in coordination with the National Endowment for the Arts, would have to go toward forms of art that are freely open to all, such as public murals, exhibitions, and concerts.
Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández of New Mexico and Jay Obernolte of California introduced the bipartisan bill to the House of Representatives in August, while Senator Ben Ray Luján, also of New Mexico, brought it to the Senate floor last Tuesday, September 28.
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