The Delaware Art Museum receives a Warhol Foundation Curatorial Research Fellowship.
The funding will help develop an art exhibition highlighting the art and artist employment opportunities made possible by the 1973 Federal Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.
The federal program provided funds for states to train workers during a period of high unemployment. And in some states and cities, a chunk of that funding went to artists to create public service art projects.
Delaware Art Museum Chief Curator Margaret Winslow says that both herself and her collaborators at New York’s City Lore and Artists Alliance, Inc are eager to share a comprehensive look at CETA through an artistic lens
“This decentralized federal funding resulted in the support of a vibrant art community. And what we are seeing is that that history is not as well-known and as thoroughly documented as it could and should be,” she explained.
Wilmington was one of the cities that used CETA funding to support local artists.
“The CETA program employed 52, and they defined it as out of work or underemployed, artists. And they’re talking about both performing and visual artists. And these are artists who are still well-known today for their arts contributions to the greater art community in Wilmington,” said Winslow.
She lists artists such as Flash Rosenberg, Carson Zullinger, and Tom Watkins among those involved in the foundation of many arts organizations that still thrive in the city today.
She adds she hopes this research will help to locate more artists employed by this program, allowing them to create a network of participants across the state and the country. Collaborators on the exhibition, City Lore and Artists Alliance, have been successful in mapping out some of the work done in New York City during the time.
“The hope is that we’ll be able to map a tremendously robust network of arts activities across the entire nation. So sharing what was happening in Delaware, sharing what was happening in Atlanta, for example. In New York, where City Lore and Artists Alliance have already presented a highly successful pilot exhibition,” explained Winslow. “And showing that this was an incredibly impactful infrastructure that the government supported, and then mapping what its long term legacy has been on arts and cultural organizations and activities leading up to today.”
Winslow says that as their research into this subject progresses, she hopes to focus on understanding how programs like CETA could be implemented in the 21st century.
A lot of work lies ahead for the Delaware Art Museum and its collaborators, beginning with research funded by the Warhol Foundation Curatorial Research Fellowship, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
While it is still a while away, the exhibition will likely be a traveling one, starting in Delaware in 2026 during the nation's 250th anniversary.
