The article on the right lays out the enormity of the WPA Music Projects in the City of New York during 1941 –
“It sponsors the most extensive musical organization ever assembled in one city: two symphony and eight dance orchestras, two bands, two choral groups and three ensemble employing some 500 musicians, not to mention 96 music centers with 188 teachers instructing 22,000 students. But of all its music groups, the project’s pride is the New York City Symphony Orchestra. Into its ranks go the 95 most proficient of the 500 musicians admitted, after stringent auditions, from the relief rolls.”
More about the WPA can be read here.
