Panel discussion about the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), which funded 20,000 arts sector jobs nationwide during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Although nearly everyone has heard about the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and its support of the arts, CETA has largely been forgotten. No comprehensive book has yet been published about this important program. This panel will focus on how art historians can take up the challenge of researching this neglected piece of American art history, and why it is imperative that they do so now.

CHAIR: 

Virginia Maksymowicz, former CETA artist under the Cultural Council Foundation (CCF) Artist Project in NYC, and Co-coordinator of the CETA Arts Legacy Project. She is Professor Emerita, Franklin & Marshall College.

PANELISTS: 

Blaise Tobia, photographer for the CCF Artist Project documentation team, and Co-coordinator of the CETA Arts Legacy Project. He is Professor Emeritus, Drexel University. 

Andrea Kirsh is an art historian with background as a curator and arts administrator. Her book, Seeing Through Paintings; Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies, was published by Yale University Press in 2000. She also served as a board member and vice president for external affairs for the College Art Association.