Coinciding with the Semiquincentennial in 2026, Citizen Artist will meet a moment of national reflection with a celebration of artist workers in America. Beginning in 1933, artists painted, photographed, wrote, acted, and taught for New Deal programs including the Public Works of Art Project, the Works Progress Administration, Farm Security Administration, and the Treasury Section on Fine Arts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal initiated dedicated arts and cultural support at the national level. Four decades later, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) funded unemployment relief and jobs training programs through local Department of Labor offices. Across the United States, artists and their allies adapted, designing programs that mobilized the skills of out-of-work professional artists in service of their local communities.