What happens to artists in the COVID economy? And what will become of their art?

As the nation deliberates how and when to go back to work, and wonders if we’ll have money to spend again when we do, it’s hard not to worry for our country’s artists.

It’s a luxury, right? A luxury we can barely afford at times like these. The theater? Music performances? Paintings to hang on the wall? Frivolous and expendable, right? Not everyone sees it that way. One of the great legacies of the nation’s Great Depression employment initiative was the establishment of Federal Project Number One — that portion of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) devoted to the arts. Writers, playwrights, actors, musicians, and historians — numbering 40,000 — got something far more valuable than a relief payment. They got to work.

The lost art of the Great Depression

Under the Federal Art Project, the physical art production arm of the effort, a lot of work was made — as many as 200,000 pieces for post offices, hospitals, and public buildings. But try finding them today. Accounts differ as to how many pieces still exist, but most were lost, stolen, or discarded. Some are still being found, squirreled away in forgotten places.

Back then the work was badly catalogued in hand-written ledgers. Over time, some pieces wound up in attics, basements, and storage areas of public spaces like libraries. We need a better system for artists and for the owners of art, even if that owner is the federal government.

The immutable record of blockchain technology

Aeryus created a project in 2018 called ArtOnChains.com for just such a purpose. Initially envisioned for use by artists working commercially, it makes just as much sense in an environment where work is being commissioned by the Federal Government.

It allows artists, or anyone owning a work of art, to upload an image of that work and create a blockchain immutable record of its existence and provenance. The rights holder receives a contract to sign digitally that stamps the work as his or her own, securing the artist’s copyright. Thanks to the properties of blockchain technology, that work can’t be forgotten or the ledger lost, because the ledger is forever. The location and stewardship can be recorded and tracked, for all of time.

Plus, theft, copyright infringement, and forgery would be easy to determine and prosecute. For historians, having the blockchain record public will be an invaluable resource.

A similar application can be employed for musical compositions, creative writing, or theatrical performances. Other components of a smart contract can track downloads or streams, extract use payments should they be applicable, and pay royalties to the artists. All with no intervention by humans and virtually no opportunity for mistakes, omissions, or copyright violation.

Art is work, and needs the same attention

There will always be debate over the role of government in providing employment, and the establishment of the WPA was and is both lauded and criticized to this day. But given the Federal Government’s decision to put the nation’s largely unskilled labor force to work building roads, dams, and Camp David, it’s nice to know someone at least had the sense to recognize that creating art is work, too.

We have yet to see the extent of the government’s efforts in pulling us back from the brink as the COVID-19 disaster plays out. A lot has changed in the United States since the Great Depression, including the vast expansion of a corporate work force where employment can be stimulated in other ways that weren’t available in 1935. But should there be a works initiative — and not just funds distributed — it would be important to not forget that area of life that separates us from every other animal on the planet. (Yes, we can get monkeys and elephants and snakes to paint, but we’re the ones putting the brushes in their hands.)

And if we do as a nation end up owning a vast treasure of new works, it would be smart to use modern technology to keep track of them.

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