WPA-Inspired 'Artists At Work' Receives $3M From Andrew W. Mellon Foundation To Expand Nationally

With Mellon Foundation Support, Artists at Work Programs will launch in Los Angeles County (Partnering with LA County Department of Arts and Culture), the Delta (Partnering with Mississippi Center for Cultural Production), and the Borderlands Region (Partnering with Southwest Folklife Alliance and City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture)

THE OFFICE performing arts + film's acclaimed Artists at Work (AAW) initiative has received $3 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand nationally, launching programs in Los Angeles County (in 2021), the Mississippi Delta region (in 2022), and the Borderlands region (2023). AAW, inspired by FDR's Depression-era Works Progress Association (WPA) and its Federal Project Number One, is conceived by THE OFFICE in collaboration with the FreshGrass Foundation as a public/private partnership that combines government, corporate, and foundation support. Founded as the pandemic ravaged artistic communities, halting careers and spurring dire financial struggle, AAW continues into a post-pandemic future, impelled by an urgent need to reimagine the culture sector and how we value artists' role in society--a need that the pandemic starkly revealed. Following a highly successful six-month pilot program in Western Mass, AAW will continue to provide financial and professional development resources directly to artists in other regions, connect them to local social impact initiatives to root them more deeply in their communities, and activate cultural organizations in support of both. AAW will partner with LA County Department of Arts and Culture; Mississippi Center for Cultural Production in the Delta; and City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture and Southwest Folklife Alliance in the Borderlands region. National partners for AAW include the International Storytelling Center and Theater of War Productions.

The Mellon Foundation and AAW are aligned in their motivating beliefs that artists are workers; that their productivity is essential to the fabric of any healthy society; and that art and artists can be the messengers that lead us to a world where marginalized and disenfranchised people and communities are lifted up and justice is centered.

"Artists at Work is visionary in its artist-centered, ecosystem-integrated approach, and we're thrilled to support its growth," said Emil Kang, Arts and Culture Program Director for The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. "Sustained artist employment and partnership models, such as those utilized by Artists at Work, are essential to driving systemic change and addressing deep inequities in the field. It is an important complement to Mellon's recently announced Creatives Rebuild New York initiative.

THE OFFICE founding director Rachel Chanoff says, "Artists are workers whose work product is crucial to the health of every society. Communities flourish when artists are woven into the everyday fabric of our lives. Here at Artists at Work, we are humbled, thrilled, and delighted to be supported by the visionary Mellon Foundation. They are inspiring game changers and are leading the charge into a more equitable and beautiful future."

AAW's core elements include putting artists on payroll at a living wage salary and giving them health benefits; creating opportunities for artists to make new work and bring it to the public; embedding artists in community-based social impact initiatives outside of the arts; and opening up avenues for young people of color to enter the culture sector's workforce through an internship and fellowship program. AAW further engages with issues of inequality and representation in the arts world by providing visibility, recognition, and resources for artists, industry leaders, and organizations that represent and value BIPOC, LGBTQI, and disability communities.

Participating artists receive a living wage salary, calculated using the MIT Living Wage Calculator for their respective region, for a period of one year, as well as full healthcare benefits. Following their participation in the program, they are eligible for unemployment benefits, and may continue healthcare coverage under COBRA if they choose. Artists working in any artistic discipline qualify for the program; they must be local to the region, and actively interested in a social practice. An AAW Artist is required to do two things during their tenure in the program: continue their own artistic practice, and engage with and become a resource for their community by working with a local social impact initiative. (These can include a wide range of programs addressing critical issues-youth mental health, suicide prevention, food justice, prison reform, youth at risk, campaigns for COVID awareness in communities of color, and other civic engagements with the aim of fostering healthy communities.)

In each region AAW is launched, participating artists and social impact Initiatives are connected to a collection of Culture Hubs-cultural organizations of diverse mission and scale who serve as active partners and enthusiastic resources for the other AAW participants. A Culture Hub can be anything from a small community-focused arts program to a major performing arts center or museum with an international profile. The primary role of an AAW Culture Hub is to act as a host for participating artists and support them in their practice while furthering their artistic engagement with the community. AAW prioritizes BIPOC-led organizations, while also considering a range of types and scale of organizations and artistic disciplines. With the generosity of the Mellon Foundation, AAW will have the opportunity to work with 21 cultural organizations, 42 artists across disciplines, 36 community-based social impact initiatives, and nine arts administration fellows and interns across these three regions, impacting whole community ecosystems.

AAW began as a COVID-era rescue package and became a plan for the future-an ambitious effort to both safeguard and amplify the vital role art and artists play as we move together into a new world.

More information on specific Artists at Work opportunities, social impact initiatives, and Culture Hubs for each region to be announced later this year.

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