Rochester Today
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A photograph of the Rochester City skyline
Rochester's long-standing artistic tradition found its roots in 18th century landscape painting, and soon developed a thriving artistic community that moved from studios in Reynolds Arcade to talks at Corinthian Hall, exhibits in the Powers Building, and eventually the establishment of the Memorial Art Gallery. During the New Deal Era, the Works Progress Administration's art funding allowed public art to thrive around Rochester as artists found employment creating murals, posters, sculpures, and decorative hangings for all sorts of public buildings in Rochester.
These foundations of Rochester's art scene is what has allowed the city to continue to be a thriving center for the arts, even into the 21st century. Today, numerous ongoing public mural projects bring the arts to the people of Rochester on a daily basis, and the city remains a place that many young artists flock to in order to find success in the arts.
Read the following pages to learn more about the lasting impact of the WPA's Federal Arts Project, Carl W. Peters, and his magnificent WPA murals on the city of Rochester.
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