The Federal Music Project (FMP), part of the Federal government of the United States New Deal program Federal One, employed musicians, conductors and composers during the Great Depression. People in the music world had been particularly hard-hit by the era's economic downturn. In addition to performing thousands of concerts, offering music classes, organizing the Composers Forum Laboratory, hosting music festivals and creating 34 new orchestras, employees of the FMP researched American traditional music and folk songs, a practice now called ethnomusicology. In the latter domain the Federal Music Project did notable studies on cowboy, Creole and "Negro" music. The FMP's director was Nikolai Sokoloff. During the Great Depression, many people visited these symphonies to forget about the economic hardship of the time.
Read more about Federal Music Project: 1935-1939
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