During the Great Depression, San Francisco native Sidney Robertson carried out a remarkable ethnomusicological survey—the WPA California Folk Music Project. From 1938 to 1940, with support from the Works Progress Administration, the University of California, Berkeley and twenty staff handpicked from the California relief rolls, she recorded and documented the diverse musical traditions in the state. This archive of songs, photographs, writings and drawings inspired “Tunes From Our Backyard,” a program by composer and musician David Steinberg celebrating the musical traditions of California’s ethnic communities featuring Bay Area musicians and vocalists, Robertson’s original field recordings, video animation and artifacts from the WPA collection. $30 advance. $35 at the door. TICKETS AND INFO
The Federal Theater Project brought live theater to thousands of ordinary Americans for the first time. At times controversial for its social commentary, the FTP became of target of the right wing. Shapiro’s award-winning book “The Playbook, A Story of the Theater, Democracy and the Making of a Culture War” chronicles the rise and demise of the Federal Theater and the parallels to our current reality. He is a professor at Columbia University and a Shakespeare Scholar-in-Residence at the Public Theater in New York City. Susan Quinn is author of “Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art Out of Desperate Times,” about the FTP director Hallie Flanagan and her battle against the House Un-American Activities Committee. Susan’s play, “It CAN Happen Here,” co-written with Dan Jacobs, premiered at New York's Culture Lab in March 2025. FREE. REGISTER
Artist Leon Bibel, like many of his generation, survived the Great Depression because of the New Deal. He worked on murals funded by the Public Works of Art Project and served in the Civilian Conservations Corps. In 1936 he joined the Federal Art Project. He painted, etched, drew, carved, printed, stamped and stenciled. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Library and Boston Museum of Fine Art. Author Richard Haw will tell the story of how Bibel, a kid from a Polish shtetl, took opportunities offered by FDR’s New Deal and why his story is relevant today. Haw is professor at John Jay College in New York. His latest book "Leon Bibel, Forgotten Artist of the New Deal" is the first biography of this eclectic artist. FREE. REGISTER
And the Award Goes to… "Your Rose Garden”
A film by Josh Peterson with music by Alexis Harte
Songwriter-musician Alexis Harte was inspired when he overheard someone in the Berkeley Rose Garden say they wished they could “buy” the garden. Harte’s response: “You don’t need to buy it, it’s already yours. It’s your rose garden.” Harte teamed up with filmmaker Josh Petersen to create “Your Rose Garden,” the winner of both the Best of Fest and Best Short Film awards at the Better Cities Film Festival held last month in Detroit. The Berkeley Rose Garden, built by the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration, opened in 1937 during the depths of the Great Depression. The garden has hosted weddings, memorials, graduations, strolls and everyday joys for generations. “This is what the Better Cities Film Festival celebrates—public places that become repositories of memory and identity,” says Chris Elisara, executive director of the annual festival.
Peterson and Harte’s new project, New Deal Spotlights, crowdsources short films by amateur and professional filmmakers about New Deal sites nationwide. Stay tuned! Watch the award-winning 5-minute film.
The Living New Deal documents the vast legacy the New Deal (1933-1942) left to America
and the spirit of public service that inspired it.
We welcome your support.
During the Great Depression, San Francisco native Sidney Robertson carried out a remarkable ethnomusicological survey—the WPA California Folk Music Project. From 1938 to 1940, with support from the Works Progress Administration, the University of California, Berkeley and twenty staff handpicked from the California relief rolls, she recorded and documented the diverse musical traditions in the state. This archive of songs, photographs, writings and drawings inspired “Tunes From Our Backyard,” a program by composer and musician David Steinberg celebrating the musical traditions of California’s ethnic communities featuring Bay Area musicians and vocalists, Robertson’s original field recordings, video animation and artifacts from the WPA collection. $30 advance. $35 at the door. 
The Federal Theater Project brought live theater to thousands of ordinary Americans for the first time. At times controversial for its social commentary, the FTP became of target of the right wing. Shapiro’s award-winning book “The Playbook, A Story of the Theater, Democracy and the Making of a Culture War” chronicles the rise and demise of the Federal Theater and the parallels to our current reality. He is a professor at Columbia University and a Shakespeare Scholar-in-Residence at the Public Theater in New York City. Susan Quinn is author of “Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art Out of Desperate Times,” about the FTP director Hallie Flanagan and her battle against the House Un-American Activities Committee. Susan’s play, “It CAN Happen Here,” co-written with Dan Jacobs, premiered at New York's Culture Lab in March 2025. FREE. 
