Citizen Artist reveals how support for the arts can ignite the energy to sustain, enrich, empower, and inspire us. During the New Deal programs of the 1930s and 1940s, artists painted, photographed, wrote, acted, and taught learners of all ages across the nation. Four decades later, artists and their allies designed programs that used Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) funds in service of their local communities. Throughout the United States, arts and cultural funding has motivated us during defining moments of our history. The works of art produced during those periods, like Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Nipomo, CA and Morris Brown II’s Black Power, capture the spirit of the times and endure today.      

Join us from July 9 – 12 at the Citizen Artist Summit where we’ll explore the celebrated, the timeless, and the emblematic works of art created during the New Deal and CETA. The weekend-long series will include prominent scholars of these two moments in history along with past CETA artists, gallery conversations, workshops, and film screenings. The events celebrate citizen artistry at the national and local levels and will provide participants with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and be inspired to create a new creative agenda for the future. 

Plan your Del Art visit today to see Migrant Mother, Nipomo, CA and Black Power, currently on view. www.delart.org.