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On Demand

Location:
Online

Price:
Course Registration Free Members
Free General Admission

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Virtually everyone knows of the WPA and its artist projects of the 1930s, but few know of CETA and its artist projects of the 1970s. The Comprehensive Employment and Training Act was signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1973. It was not specifically designed to employ artists but, by its conclusion in 1982 it had given work to more than 10,000 of them. Many of its alumni went on to significant success in their careers, including Ursula von Rydingsvard, Dawoud Bey, Hunt Slonem, Willie Birch, Ruth Asawa, Judy Baca and Suzanne Lacy.

Join Virginia Maksymowicz and Blaise Tobia, visual artists formerly employed under the Cultural Council Foundation’s CETA Artists Project in New York City, for a live webinar discussing their experiences and other artists in the program, as well as museums and organizations that were helped through CETA funding.

1 CE Credit

This is a recording of a previously held live webinar.

Fees (On-Demand):
Free -  Members & General Admission

Register online (at the top of this page)
or by calling 212.889.5404 x 11. 

Email confirmations will be sent upon receipt of payment;
registration accepted only with payment. 

No refunds. 

Image Credit: Rosalind “Simi” Thompson, installing her sculpture at Battery Park, 1978, photo © Blaise Tobia/CCF CETA Artist Project

More information about CETA: Provided by Virginia Maksymowicz and Blaise Tobia

Wikipedia: CETA Employment of Artists Nationally
and Wikipedia: CETA Artists Project NYC

Could a Nixon-era employment scheme get artists back to work? The Art Newspaper, June, 2020

Looking for CETA: Tracking the impact of the 1970s federal program that employed artists

CETA and the Arts: Analyzing the Results of a Groundbreaking Federal Job Program

The Public Artist Returns, MANPOWER (publication of the Department of Labor; article from October 1975 at the very beginning of CETA's support of artists)

NYC CETA Artist Project - Website (this has a link to an Archive about CETA funding around the country; it’s constantly being updated)

Virginia Maksymowicz and Blaise Tobia are visual artists based in Philadelphia. Each holds the title of Professor Emeritus, Virginia from Franklin & Marshall College and Blaise from Drexel University. In 1978 and 1979, both were employed under the Cultural Council Foundation’s CETA Artists Project in New York City. Blaise was a photographer for its documentation unit; two of his CETA photos were recently included in Mayor de Blasio’s cultural plan “Create NYC.” Currently, they are working with a nationwide coalition of project alumni and arts professionals to secure the legacy of CETA through online documentation, lectures and exhibitions, and the creation of a centralized archive.

Claire Louise Giblin is a painter and photographer. During her professional career, she has exhibited in the US, Germany, Italy, Korea, and Turkey. Her work is in corporate, educational, museum, and private collections. As Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at Phillips Museum of Art at Franklin & Marshall College, she curated over 100 exhibitions, designed and produced exhibition catalogs, taught introductory painting and workshops in professional practices, and facilitated a weekly life-drawing studio. Giblin received her Certificate in Appraisal Studies in Fine and Decorative Arts at NYU. She is an Accredited Member of Appraisers Association of America, and founder of Atlantic Appraisal Services LLC.

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