Empowering Creativity. Implementing the UNESCO 1980 Recommendation Concering the Status of the Artist (March 2024)
Theatre Censorship in Contemporary Europe (Jan. 2024)
Free to Create: Artistic Freedom in Europe. Update & Recommendations (Nov. 2023)
Presentation to the Council of Europe by Sara Whyatt
South East Asian Arts Censorship Database (2023)
The report centralises information about attacks on freedom of expression of arts and culture in Southeast Asia, into a fully searchable database.
Artistic Freedom Initiative: Artistic Freedom Monitor
Afghanistan: Artistic Exodus: Afghan Artists Fleeing Taliban Rule (Oct. 2023)
Created in partnership with UC Berkeley School of Law,“Artistic Exodus” highlights the ongoing risks that Afghan artists and cultural workers face in Afghanistan and exposes the serious systemic problems facing refugee artists during migration and resettlement in host
Poland: Cultural Control: Censorship and Suppression of the Arts in Poland (Oct. 2022)
Created in partnership with UC Berkeley School of Law and Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, and funded by the SDK Foundation for Human Dignity, “Cultural Control” provides an analysis of PiS’s strategy to promote its nationalist political vision and strategically crowd out opposition voices from the nation’s most influential arts and cultural institutions.
Hungary: Systematic Suppression: Hungary’s Arts and Culture in Crisis (March 2022)
Grounded in international, regional, and national legal frameworks, this report documents the impact the Orbán administration has had on the arts and culture sector in Hungary. Further, it seeks to strengthen protections for artists and cultural workers through precise, actionable policy recommendations.
Mapping Report on the Status of Artists in Tanzania (August 2023)
CDEA carried out a mapping study on the status of the artist in Tanzania with support from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dar es Salaam.
An Assessment of Artistic Freedom: Gambia (August 2023)
This paper, An Assessment of Artistic Freedom: The Gambia, provides a thorough analysis of the country’s current level of artistic freedom. It offers insightful analysis of the state of artistic expression freedom and useful suggestions to assist creators, audiences, and activists in defending their rights to artistic expression.
9th World Summit Report 2023 (August 2023)
The Summit report by IFACCA reflects the main discussion points from the 9th World Summit on Arts and Culture, held in Stockholm, Sweden, from May 3-5. It focuses on the following themes: Rights to artistic freedom: Understanding barriers and threats; Responsibilities in artistic freedom: Creating and maximising opportunities; and Practicing artistic freedom: Inspiring tools for a vibrant future.
The State of Artistic Expresssion 2023 (April 2023)
The annual report by Freemuse about the state of artistic freedom around the world. On 110 pages the report outlines the reality of artists caught up in conflict and unrest or those who are living under oppressive regimes. The report focuses on ten key countries, that in 2022 have proved to be restrictive towards freedom of artists and endangering for the artists lifes. This includes China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, Nigeria, Russia, Thailand, Türkiye and Ukraine.
Free to Create: Artistic Freedom in Europe. (February 2023)
Council of Europe report on the freedom of artistic expression written by Sara Whyatt
The report examines the challenges European artists and cultural workers face in the practice of their right to freedom of artistic expression. These range from laws that curtail creative freedom, attacks from non-governmental groups and online threats to the “under-the-radar” pressures that contribute to self-censorship. Artistic freedom is a core human right requiring protection and it has worsened recently under multiple challenges – political extremism, economic collapse, a global pandemic, threats from digitisation, an emerging environmental catastrophe, and the return of war within Europe – all crises with major impacts on human rights across society.
Artists killed in Latin America for exercising their freedom of artistic expression (Dec. 2022)
An executive summary of the original report produced in Spanish that
focuses only on violence against artists, like targeted killings related to the
exercise of their right to freedom of expression and artistic creativity in Latin
America.
Article 19: Annual Report (2022)
The annual report of Article 19 presents the highlights of the organisation’s work internationally under the following 5 key themes: Promoting media independence, increasing access to information, protecting journalists, expanding civic space and placing human rights at the heart of developing digital spaces.
Artists Under Boycott. Sanctions against Russian artists and their work: their impact on artistic freedom and other fundamental rights (Dec. 2022)
AGL has launched a White Paper calling upon cultural institutions and cultural event organisers to respect the rights of Russian artists and to show leadership in defending the universal right to freedom of artistic expression without discrimination.
Art in Turmoil: Artistic Freedom and Human Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean. (2022)
Art in Turmoil shares personal insights from key stakeholders in the field of artistic freedom on the main challenges artists and human rights defenders in the region face today, from repressive state and non-state actors to COVID-19. The report also provides tools and recommendations intended to help artists – and the organizations that support them – continue to create and defend artistic freedom, even in the face of growing adversity.
Critical Voices (2021)
The report is part of a collaboration between the Nordic Culture Fund, the UNESCO’s Danish National Commission and Delegation in Paris under the fund’s initiative Globus. It analyses and maps UNESCO’s abilities to defend and support artists, journalists and researchers’ right to express themselves freely.
Freedom of Artistic Expression in the European Union (November 2021)
The Freedom of Artistic Expression in the European Union publication presented by the Greens/European Free Alliance Group and Culture Action Europe, commissioned by MEP Diana Riba i Giner, offers a general overview of the global and European legislative framework and case-law, outlining further possible courses of action aiming at strengthening the legal protection of Freedom of Artistic Expression at a European level.
The State of Artistic Freedom 2022 (Feb. 2021)
The Freemuse report shows the extent of attacks on artists and creative freedom in 2021 through numbers and infographics that illustrate the stark reality of the struggle for rights
Painting the Rainbow: How LGBTI Freedom of Artistic Expression is denied (Dec. 2020)
The pioneering Freemuse report, reveals that even though LGBTI artists have been facing different types of discrimination in many different social, political, and legal contexts no laws, traditions, or religions can entirely stop artistic expression around these issues.
Freedom and creativity: defending art, defending diversity (2020)
The UNESCO report focuses on one of the 2005 Convention’s overarching goals: the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms and, in particular, artistic freedom. Freedom of expression, information and communication, as well as the ability of individuals to choose cultural expressions is a prerequisite for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions.
The right to freedom of artistic expression and creation (2013)
In this thematic report, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the right to freedom of artistic expression and creation, which includes the right of all persons to freely experience and contribute to artistic expressions and creations, through individual or joint practice, to have access to and enjoy the arts, and to disseminate their expressions and creations.
