It's good to hear the Prime Minister talk about getting the economy going with spending on schools, hospitals and infrastructure. But lets urge @BorisJohnson to make sure the arts are included in the plans. As F.D.R.'s Depression era New Deal proved, it makes huge sense (thread)

Roosevelt's 1930s New Deal saw the construction of 17,562 public buildings, 279,804 miles of roads, 29,084 bridges, 357 airports and more than 30,000 dams. But it also included the arts. The Federal Music Project employed musicians who gave 4,400 performances a month.

The Federal Theatre put on 1,813 plays, more than 3500 branch libraries were opened, and the Public Works of Art Project (in just four months) hired 3,749 artists who produced 15,663 paintings, murals, prints, crafts and sculptures for government buildings around the US.

Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Aaron Douglas, John Cheever, Aaron Copland and Dorothea Lange were among those supported; Director Orson Welles staged a celebrated version of Macbeth for the Federal Theatre Project with an all-black cast that ended up touring the country.

The New Deal made art available to all - and supported those working in the cultural industries when people could not afford to buy tickets. As organiser Harry Hopkins said of the artists the project supported 'Hell, they've got to eat just like other people.'.

Let's urge @BorisJohnson @RishiSunak @OliverDowden to make the arts are included in our Covid 19 New Deal. It simply makes sense.

Sources - @SmithsonianMag https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/1934-the-art-of-the-new-deal-132242698/ @NewStatesman https://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/martin-bright/2009/01/deal-work-government-fdr @NPR https://www.npr.org/2020/05/25/854864293/art-of-the-new-deal-how-artists-helped-redefine-america-during-the-depression?t=1593425835833