The beginning of the Federal Music Project, as a part of the Federal Government of the United States’ New Deal program, initiated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Local YMCA and YWCA, financed by the Federal Music Project, begin to offer free piano classes and concerts. In charge of the Federal Music Project is Dr. Nikolay Sokoloff, violinist and conductor, founder of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. The agency employs 18,000 people and spends more money than any other federal cultural program of the time. (The Federal Music Project will continue until 1939, to be followed by the WPA Music Program that will last from 1939 till 1943.)