ART/WORK: How the Federally-Funded CETA Jobs Program Put Artists to Work will be the first-ever national touring exhibition and public program series dedicated to CETA’s transformative yet largely unsung impact on the arts and humanities. The exhibition premieres at the James Gallery at the CUNY Graduate Center in Fall 2026 before traveling to additional venues nationwide. Featuring archival materials, original artworks, oral histories, film, interactive technologies, and historical timelines, the exhibition will immerse visitors in the creative energy, advocacy, and infrastructure that artists and allies built through CETA, contextualized within the broader sociopolitical landscape.

At its core, ART/WORK aims to educate, inspire, and preserve—cementing CETA’s role in integrating artists into the workforce and shaping cultural careers for generations. Visitors will learn how CETA-funded artists generated new works, collaborations, and artistic movements while contributing to the growth of public arts infrastructures. Through firsthand accounts and historical artifacts, we illuminate a pivotal yet often overlooked chapter in American cultural history.

Beyond simply excavating history, this exhibition and its programs aim to propel a pressing conversation about sustaining arts and humanities workers today. CETA succeeded in integrating artists into the labor economy, yet no similar federal efforts have emerged since. Until recently, CETA has been largely absent from policy discussions, despite the ongoing economic precarity of cultural workers—exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our project isn’t just about revisiting CETA’s impact; it’s about asking whether it can serve as a model for today’s arts labor policies and challenging us to push for long-term investments in the creative workforce.