The
Federal Art Project (1935–43) was a
New Deal program to fund the
visual arts in the
United States. Under national director
Holger Cahill, it was one of five
Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the
Works Progress Administration, and the largest of the New Deal art projects. It was created not as a cultural activity but as a relief measure to employ artists and artisans to create murals, easel paintings, sculpture, graphic art, posters, photography,
theatre scenic design, and arts and crafts. The WPA Federal Art Project established more than 100 community art centers throughout the country, researched and documented American design, commissioned a significant body of
public art without restriction to content or subject matter, and sustained some 10,000 artists and craft workers during the
Great Depression.