Monday, August 26, 2013

The New Deal offered Americans an affordable way to enjoy music

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The WPA's Federal Music Project performed concerts all across America. The concerts gave lower-income groups an opportunity to enjoy music at an affordable price. For example, 25 cents in 1938 (the price shown on the poster above) would be about $4 today.

The concerts also gave unemployed musicians an opportunity to ply their trade. Like so many of the New Deal programs, it was a win-win situation. Additionally, some WPA orchestra's continued (in some manner or another) even after the WPA was closed down in 1943 (click here, and download "History" pdf for an example). 


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