Spokane Art Center

Working closely with local officials and arts organizations, regional and state FAP directors located areas where interest and support were strong.

Open to all, free of charge, with no race restrictions, the centers proved tremendously popular – despite complaints from some Congressmen and editorialists that they were frivolous and wasteful expenditures.

Despite his ardent opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal programs, local newspaperman and business magnate William H. Cowles donated the use of a spacious, three-storey building, while a fund-drive by Parent-Teacher Associations, businesses, and arts associations produced more-than-adequate startup money, gaining $12,000 in federal funds.

[2] The teaching staff included, at various times, artists Robert Engard,[6] Guy Anderson, Clyfford Still, Hilda Grossman,[7] Z. Vanessa Helder,[8] Joseph Solman,[9] Margaret Tomkins, James FitzGerald,[10] Kenneth Downer, and Ruth Egri.

[10] Centrally located at North 106 Monroe Street in downtown Spokane,[5] the center attracted several hundred enrollees for adult and children's classes in painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, metalwork, and ceramics.