As Inauguration Day inches closer, so does the reported promise of a “new deal” presidency to combat the devastation of COVID-19 and the proposed cuts in arts funding from the outgoing administration. But rather than waiting on a promise that may never be entirely realized, artists and community organizers across the country have coalesced around a grassroots new deal of their own—the People’s WPA.
Conceived and organized by the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC), the People’s WPA is a project designed to address the creative needs of culture workers and change-makers with more immediacy than any official government program could provide. Since 2013, the USDAC has specialized in creating toolkits and policy papers for community-based creatives to apply to their own projects. By assuming the trappings of an official government entity (which it emphatically is not), the USDAC makes a compelling case for the importance of the arts as community and capacity-building hubs.
