In March 2023, at the Salzburg Global Seminar session “On the Front Lines: Artists at Risk, Artists who Risk”, a global assembly of fifty artists, activists, and representatives from supporting organizations spanning forty countries united to create the Salzburg Statement on Supporting Artists on the Front Line. The session explored the intersection of contemporary art, activism, politics, law, research, technology, ethics and organizing. The final statement urges institutions shaping social and cultural policies to create an enabling, human rights-based environment that supports artists at risk.
By the end of 2025, policymakers, funders, and international organizations are called upon to:
- Conduct a comprehensive study of factors inhibiting creative workers’ artistic freedom and cultural rights.
- Produce a detailed report on best practices for identifying, evaluating, and addressing the needs of creative workers at risk.
- Establish legal frameworks for Emergency Artistic Freedom visas, ensuring entry and work authorizations for creative workers at risk.
- Allocate resources to support the relocation and professional development of at-risk creative workers.
- Integrate artistic and cultural rights into international policy work, prioritizing them in state and human rights NGO agendas.
- Recognize artists as essential partners in addressing sustainable development, democracy, and innovation, prioritizing their collective expression and activities in the human rights field.