WPA doc: 'New Deal for Artists'

[Wellesnet]

"New Deal for Artists" — a look back at the WPA and what has been called the most ambitious government-supported arts program since the Italian Renaissance — has been remastered. Narrated by Orson Welles, it is set for re-release in May 2021. https://www.wellesnet.com/remastered-wpa-documentary/

[Terry]

Trailer, featuring Welles narration and Houseman interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84SUnmEzHuc

[Wellesnet]

‘New Deal for Artists’ recalls WPA impact on arts (review):
https://www.wellesnet.com/new-deal-artists-review/

The WPA’s impact on the arts during the Great Depression is recounted in this seldom-seen film from West German writer-director Wieland Schulz-Keil. First broadcast in the U.S. by PBS in 1981, New Deal for Artists has been remastered from the original 16mm negative and given a re-release for Virtual Cinema Screenings by Corinth Films (It begins streaming May 21 at lightboxfilmcenter.org, afterhoursfilmsociety.com, chicagofilmcritics.org, cia.edu, afisilver.afi.com and other websites.

Guardian review:
New Deal For Artists: an unearthed film on how arts funding should work
For its 40th anniversary, the Orson Welles-narrated documentary about Franklin D Roosevelt’s post-depression artist program is getting a vital re-release
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/m ... son-welles

[Wellesnet]

From Wellesnet Facebook-
Chris Kent: "We could do with this now, on both sides of the Atlantic."

Interesting Harper's article touches on the need for "WPA of the 21st Century" in the wake of the pandemic's catastrophic effect on the arts:
https://harpers.org/archive/2021/06/sta ... -the-arts/

New advocacy groups have emerged, including the Music Workers Alliance, which helped lobby for an extension of PUA (Pandemic Unemployment Assistance), and the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers, which similarly pushes for fairness in the digital marketplace. Another new program, Artists at Work, is intended to be a “WPA for the 21st Century,” employing artists to work on projects of immediate social benefit. Not giving them grants—the old model—but hiring them with salaries, benefits, and the recognition that, as artists, workers is precisely what they are.

[Le Chiffre]

Rented this and enjoyed it. It's a beautiful, flawless looking restoration and Welles's narration is featured a lot. One thing this program emphasizes that I hadn't considered enough is how one of the main goals of the Federal Theater Project was to expand theater beyond its traditional boundaries of white society and open it up more to people of color. This the VOODOO MACBETH did with great fanfare and success, although this success was short-lived. This may be one of the reasons why the Dies Committee went after it so vehemently. NEW DEAL FOR ARTISTS implies effectively that, especially for southern conservatives, anti-communism was in part a code word for plain old-fashioned bigotry. Good show that also touches on HORSE EATS HAT and THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, as well as some of the ground covered by Tim Robbins' film, such as the murals of Diego Rivera. It also emphasizes how forgotten the FTP had become, so it's good that its memory had at least survived because of interest in the early career of Orson Welles. I hope the show becomes more readily available soon. It's worth seeing.