ART/WORK: The Practice and Politics of CETA and the Arts, 1974–1981

ART/WORK invites visitors to engage with the historical record and consider the possibilities that emerge when culture is understood not as a luxury, but as an essential component of public life. About City Lore is pleased to join the Artists Alliance and the CUNY Graduate Center to present ART/WORK: The Practice and Politics of CETA and the Arts, 1974–1981 opening August 25th and on view through December 12, 2026 at the James Gallery, CUNY Graduate Center. The gallery is located at 365 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan. There will be an opening reception: Wednesday, September 16, 2026, 6-8pm. To rsvp: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfZh9ekZPepQLlE_aTtOi_ciZGDtKcY1BrRtqBE6p4jHgB7Tg/viewform Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 12-6pm; and second Saturday of every month, Sep 12, Oct 10, Nov 14, Dec 12, 12-6 p.m. ABOUT CETA & THE EXHIBITION Between 1974 and 1981, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) placed more than 30,000 artists and cultural workers on local government payrolls in nearly 200 cities, towns, and Indigenous territories across the United States. Though largely forgotten today, the program represented one of the most ambitious federal investments in cultural labor since the New Deal, reshaping local cultural infrastructure and supporting artists working in communities across the country. ART/WORK: The Practice and Politics of CETA and the Arts, 1974–1981 is the first major exhibition to examine the national impact and lasting legacy of the CETA arts programs. Drawing upon more than a decade of research and an extensive oral history archive, the exhibition brings together artworks, photographs, films, publications, administrative records, and ephemera to reconstruct a history that has remained surprisingly absent from both public memory and art historical discourse. Read more Toggle Mixed media