Did you know that once upon a time, artists were paid by the government to do art? In the 1930s, artists painted, photographed, wrote, acted, and taught for New Deal programs, including the Public Works of Art Project and the Works Progress Administration. In the 1970s, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) provided unemployment relief through programs that put professional artists to work in service of their local communities. In Delaware, CETA helped ignite programs at the Delaware Art Museum and the beginnings of The Delaware Contemporary.

Coinciding with the semi-quincentennial in the U.S. this year, Citizen Artist, a new exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum, weaves together artworks from the interconnected eras of the New Deal and CETA, along with new works emerging from contemporary artists today. Come hear from co-curators Margaret Winslow and Dorothy Fisher about Citizen Artist, on view at the Delaware Art Museum April 11-July 19.

Margaret Winslow is the Head Curator and Curator of Contemporary Art at the Delaware Art Museum. She has curated for the Neuberger Museum of Art and The Delaware Contemporary and assisted with exhibits for the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Margaret holds a BA in Art History from the University of Mary Washington and an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art, Theory, and Criticism from SUNY Purchase.

Dorothy Lewis Fisher, a PhD candidate at the University of Delaware, has been the Lynn Herrick Sharp Curatorial Fellow at the Delaware Art Museum since September 2023. She holds a BA in art history from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and an MA in Art History from both the University of Delaware and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

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The Scholars Gild, a part of the Arden Club, meets on the third Tuesday of the month, September through June. We usually use a hybrid Live-Zoom model. There are sometimes technical glitches so your patience is appreciated.

There is no fee to attend Scholars Gild discussions.  We encourage all to donate live or at http://ardenclub.org/donate/.  Your support helps keep the virtual and in-person lights on at the Club, making possible dynamic programming like concerts, theater, dance, and, of course, our Scholars Gild evenings.

To get updates and Zoom links, sign up for email notifications at ScholarsGild@gmail.com. Follow “Arden Scholars’ Gild” on Facebook, and you can see recordings of past events by going to our YouTube Channel at “Arden Scholars Gild”.