Freemuse joins the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk in calling for the dropping of charges against Jung Yoon-suk www.icfr.international/cases/drop-c...

The fast-paced cycle of policy changes, executive actions, and judicial rulings makes it hard to stay up-to-date on what’s happening within art institutions. So we compiled a month-by-month recap of how US politics impacted the cultural sector in 2025.

18 December 2025, on the occasion of minorities day - Freemuse and its partners announce the launch of the fifth edition of the International Contest for Minority Artists (2026). The 2026 theme of the Contest is War and Reconciliation. www.freemuse.org/internationa...

ArtsEquator has quietly launched RADAR, the first searchable archive of its kind tracking artistic restrictions across Southeast Asia. Covering six countries and over 800 cases since 2010, RADAR goes beyond monitoring violations. Read the article here: www.freemuse.org/resisting-er...

Freemuse joins people around the world in marking the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, reaffirming their UN-recognised rights, including self-determination, the right of return, and an independent state free from occupation. www.freemuse.org/creativity-u...

Today, Index and others call for the release of Algerian poet #MohamedTadjadit ahead of upcoming court dates. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty. Tadjadit is being persecuted for his poetry and peaceful activism. All charges must be dropped: www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/11/join...

Ahead of upcoming court dates on 11 and 30 November 2025, Freemuse joins local, regional and international organisations to reiterate their calls on the Algerian authorities to drop all charges and release poet and activist Mohamed Tadjadit and his 12 co-defendants. www.freemuse.org/free-mohamed...

A court has overturned the ban on “Turn and See Back: Revisiting Trans Revolutions in Türkiye”, an exhibition hosted last summer at Depo, one of Istanbul’s leading independent art spaces. Read the full article here: www.freemuse.org/a-fragile-vi... #ArtisticFreedom #Türkiye

Freemuse joins other international human rights and cultural organisations to express deep concern over the deteriorating human rights landscape in the United Republic of Tanzania and its direct, stifling impact on the creative sector.

The Day of the Dead on 2 November is a tradition observed across Latin America, honouring deceased loved ones and celebrating their lives. This year, Freemuse joins the celebration as an act of resistance and a testament to memory serving artistic freedom. www.freemuse.org/day-of-the-d...

Introducing Khalid Albaih - Arts category nominee for this year’s Freedom of Expression Awards! Albaih is a Sudanese independent political cartoonist renowned for his incisive human rights advocacy, shared globally under the name "Khartoon." Learn more: www.indexoncensorship.org/awards-2025-...

We are delighted to see our friend and ally Khalid Albaih recognised in the shortlist for this year’s Freedom of Expression Awards from Index on Censorship.

"[Musicians] demonstrate a new sincerity, a new honesty, that is a huge contrast against the awful cynicism of those in power.” An excellent piece on the Kremlin's unsuccessful attempts to suppress song. www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Koalisi Seni, an Indonesian advocacy group for artistic freedom, has released a new report, Cerita Lama Berulang Kembali (Same Old, Same Old)—a decade-high. Of the sixty documented violations, more than half, thirty-eight, were in music. Read the full article here: www.freemuse.org/same-old-sam...

Freemuse welcomes the 11 September release of 52 political prisoners in Belarus, including artist Aljaksei Silenka. Yet 1,197 remain jailed as of 2 October. We call on the Belarusian authorities to free all unlawfully detained and end politically motivated persecution. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🇪🇬 Cartoonist Ashraf Omar is still imprisoned 14 months after he was arrested. #freeAshrafOmar 🧵 4/7

🇹🇷 Zehra Ömeroğlu finally receives the Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award at Lakes International Comic Art Festival. 🧵 3/7

Read Emma Shapiro's article in Hyperallergic on the Freemuse report on artistic freedom, alongside Article 19's Global Expression report. hyperallergic.com/1043369/new-...

Slovenian artist Maja Smrekar is suing right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party for misusing her performance art, K-9_topology: Hybrid Family, in a referendum campaign. She is defending artistic freedom and reflecting on increasing pressure for self-censorship. www.freemuse.org/maja-smrekar...

Webinar: Human Rights and the Production of Disaggregated Data on Roma 22 September 4:00 PM (CET) Language: English and Spanish This webinar aims to strengthen efforts to generate and use disaggregated data on human rights and Roma communities. Agenda, register and background at tinyurl.com/y97mbea7

The International Association of Art Critics (AICA International) urges Germany to protect artistic freedom while combating antisemitism, warning that current practices risk fostering de facto censorship and self-censorship in the cultural sector. aicainternational.news/agora/2025/9...

OPEN CALL: To the Kids Who Live - an online exhibition of work created in solidarity with Palestine. Curated by Bosla Arts’ artist-in-residence Rand Hamdallah! Deadline 30 September 2025 🎨 Learn more & apply: www.boslaarts.com/blog/open-ca...

The International Association of Art Critics (AICA International) expresses deep concern and protests the recent conviction of cultural manager Sebastián Coronel, head of the independent space La Chispa in Asunción, Paraguay. Read the statement here: aicainternational.news/agora/2025/8...

Over a year after Vail, Colorado, cancelled an artist residency over a pro-Palestine artwork, Indigenous painter Danielle SeeWalker has settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by the ACLU.

One year ago, Chinese artist and U.S. resident Gao Zhen was detained in Hebei, China. He remains in prison without trial, his health failing, his family silenced. Freemuse joins sixteen other rights organisations to demand his immediate release. See the joint statement here: hrf.org/latest/joint...

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) webinar 'Satire on Trial: The Case of Leman and the Shrinking Space for Media in Turkey', held on 28 July, examined growing challenges for satirists. Watch the full discussion: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqMc...

After an Indigenous artist included pro-Palestine visuals and slogans in a commissioned mural at the Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum in Illinois, the institution terminated its contract with the artist, painted over the mural, and temporarily closed its doors to the public.

Freemuse is looking forward to the World Forum of Democracy in Strasbourg in November where we will be presenting our Building Bridges-Defending Artistic Freedom project under the 'Time for Ideas' session. Read more: www.coe.int/en/web/world...

Delighted that I shall be there wearing two hats: 1 - for the presentation of the @freemuse.bsky.social 'Ideas-Deliberative Democracy' session 'Building Bridges - Defending Artistic Freedom & 2 - for the @coe.int Free to Create Project under the 'Time for Creativity' sessions.

Awdah Hathaleen, a beloved Palestinian activist and teacher who worked on the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” was shot and killed by an Israeli settler in the Occupied West Bank.

The Berlin Biennale’s failure to take a stance and address Germany’s repressive cultural-political climate amounts to complicity. It’s difficult to understand how an exhibition this visible can fail to confront its own volatile context.

#Turkey 🇹🇷 ‪@cartoonistsrights.org‬ "stands in solidarity" with cartoonist Zehra Ömeroğlu, as state prosecutors says they will appeal her acquittal of criminal charges of obscenity.

[EVENT] 💻 WEBINAR : 28.07.25, 11:00 @ecpmf.bsky.social invites you to an urgent discussion on the escalating crackdown against @lemandergi.bsky.social and what this case reveals about artistic expression, and independent journalism in #Turkey: www.mfrr.eu/satire-on-tr...

Excellent, practical guide to resisting censorship by our colleagues at AICA - International Association of Arts Critics. Do read and save in case of future need. aicainternational.news/agora/2025/7...

Agradecemos a nuestros colegas de Cartel Urbano por la traducción al español del Resumen Ejecutivo y del capítulo sobre América Latina del informe sobre el Estado de la Libertad Artística en el Mundo (SAF 2025). Léelo aquí: www.freemuse.org/freemuses-20...

Egyptian cartoonist Ashraf Omar has spent a year in pre-trial detention after being arrested, beaten, and interrogated over his work. Freemuse joins 23 press and human rights organisations in calling for his immediate release. Full statement: cartoonistsrights.org/ashraf-omar-...

China has detained performance artist 'Nut Brother' known for turning Beijing smog into a brick, after his pollution probe in Shaanxi. He’s been incommunicado since June 30, reports Oiwan Lam. His collaborator Zheng Hongbin was also taken. Read the article here: globalvoices.org/2025/07/11/w...

Cartoonist Zehra Ömeroğlu acquitted after a 5-year obscenity trial. In conversation with Freemuse’s Özlem Altunok, Ömeroğlu discusses censorship, political humour, and the pressures faced by women artists in Türkiye. Read her full interview here: www.freemuse.org/cartoonist-z...

Egyptian poet and lyricist Galal El-Behairy has spent seven years jailed for his artistic expression. Now on hunger strike, denied books and medical care. Freemuse’s 2025 report cites his case as proof of Egypt’s artistic crackdown and urges his release with PEN International. shorturl.at/lOAjM

Russian authorities carried out a raid on the Revolt cultural center in Syktyvkar, northeast Russia. It's co-founder, Pavel Andreyev is charged with treason. It's ED Darya Chernysheva, accused under 'foreign agent' legislation. Read more here: novayagazeta.eu/articles/202...

Federal agents paid an unexpected visit to the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago in what the museum has described as a “targeted” attempt to intimidate staff and visitors.

After a year in a detention center for allegedly violating China's repressive anti-defamation laws, artist Gao Zhen is refusing to plead guilty and accept a three-year prison sentence.

#Egypt: PEN International is outraged that poet Galal El-Behairy, on hunger strike and suffering from a tumour, is being denied access to medical care. We call for his immediate and unconditional release. Read our statement ⬇️ www.pen-international.org/news/egypt-p...

📢 [CARTOONIST ALERT] #Türkiye Read the open letter of support for @lemandergi.bsky.social magazine, signed by Cartooning for Peace, @cartoonistsrights.org and a dozen other co-signatory organisations: www.cartooningforpeace.org/en/soutiens/...

Chinese artist Gao Zhen has been detained nearly a year in China for satirical art of Mao Zedong made 15 years ago. Arrested in August 2024, he refuses to plead guilty. His trial is expected in about a month. Freemuse demands his immediate release. Read more: hyperallergic.com/1026680/gao-...

CARTOONISTS RIGHTS joins with @cartooningforpeace.bsky.social and @rsf.org in condemnation of the recent criminal arrest warrants and unrest in Istanbul, all over a misrepresented cartoon seen in @lemandergi.bsky.social last month. cartoonistsrights.org/statement-le...

#Turkey: By attacking cartoons, the Turkish authorities are attacking the supreme symbol of freedom of expression. We remind the crucial role of cartoonists in democratic societies, protected under the ECHR. We stand in solidarity with #LeMan staff.

At the UN Human Rights Council on 1 July, Iran rejected over half of 346 UPR recommendations. Repression has deepened since the Israel war, with arrests and internet crackdowns. Artist Reza Daryakenari and rapper Toomaj Salehi face harsh charges. www.freemuse.org/irans-repres...