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T he Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration was started in the Fall of 1935.  Its primary objective is to conserve the talents and skills of thousands of artists who, given the opportunity, are capable of making contributions of the utmost value to the enrichment of American life.
The art project employs about 5,300 people of training and experience in the art field.  More than 82 per cent were taken from relief rolls.  Its program includes the rehabilitation of artists who have lost some of their skill through long unemployment; the encouragement and further training of young artists of definite ability, and the development of a wider market for American art.
It was with no idea of selecting the artist for special consideration that the art project was launched. Artists require consideration and help in the same degree as other professional groups. They are trained to do a socially useful job, whether it be the creation of paintings or sculptures, or the designing of posters for educational campaigns.
In this difficult emergency through which we are not passing our artists have displayed a fortitude as great as that of any other class of citizens.  One might say a fortitude far above the average, for they were the first group to be seriously affected by the depression, and among the last to go on relief.
During the past few years there has been practically no market for the work of American artists.  The public interest in American art which reached a point in the years just before the depression still remains.  But the interest expressed in terms of purchase ceased abruptly soon after 1929