about WPA 2.0, a brand new deal: a year-long instigation produced by portoluz
August 24, 2011
Introduction, WPA 2.0, a Brand New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States, from 1933 to 1938. The programs were responses to the Great Depression of 1929. In 1935, President Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration, as part of his New Deal program to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work. The WPA was the largest New Deal agency, employing millions to carry out public works projects. It fed children and redistributed food, clothing, and housing. Almost every community in the United States had a park, bridge or school constructed by the agency, which especially benefited rural and Western populations. Expenditures from 1936 to 1939 totaled nearly $7 billion. By 1943, the total amount spent was over $11 billion.Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA provided almost eight million jobs and until it was ended by Congress and war employment during 1943, the WPA was the largest employer in the country.
Many New Deal administrators believed that art could be a part of the daily lives of all Americans, not just the elite, and could enrich the lives of all who came in contact with it. The main objective was the employment of out-of-work artists, but this was not its only goal. The work of the WPA was one of the primary ways through which many Americans were first introduced to the arts.
In 2011, the ten-member program committee chose WPA 2.0, “A Brand New Deal” as an overarching theme for multi-disciplinary programs. As we recognized that the entire paradigm that was developed in the last century as a response to industrialization and the Great Depression was under varying degrees of attack- from arts education in public schools to collective bargaining, we thought it might be a good time to look at the conditions that gave rise to The New Deal reforms and explore what parallels might be relevant today.
portoluz developed this instigation as a kinetic and contemporary ‘take’ on a meme by utilizing a variety of cultural production to explore the Great Depression of 1929, the WPA and role of the “cultural worker”, and the current recession. By riffing on history, re-mixing archival ephemera, commissioning and curating a wide range of voices, portoluz seeks primarily to emphasize and inspire solutions that respond to today’s worldwide economic and social crisis.
Jazz on a Summer's Day
August 23, 2011
Jazz on a Summer's Day
Crisp dappled sunlight falling on stray notes… lazy phrasing... a serious music lover's idyll.
JAZZ ON A SUMMERS DAY presents uncompromising jazz and creative improvised music (and more) in an idyllic rural setting across the lake in Michigan.
portoluz has partnered with the Lakeside Inn and LillStreet Art Studios to develop this seasonal series of sophisticated artistry unfettered by commercial distractions.
The “ballroom” of the Lakeside Inn is a mid-size wooden room filled with arts and crafts era antiques. The ballroom looks out over Lake Michigan and in this cozy and informal setting, the musical performance unfolds.
The magic of the environment, the virtuosity of the musicians, the intimacy of the performance and the natural acoustics of the wooden room conspire to create a deeply meditative experience. Jazz on a Summers Day is underwritten in part by The Pokagon Fund.
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APRIL 2012
Welcome to portoluz
January 29, 2011
Welcome to portoluz
Our Chicago-based non-profit organization is developing a new permanent cultural center and in the interim presenting arts and humanities events throughout the region.
