The new UNESCO study “Culture & Working Conditions for Artists” uncovers persisting and emerging challenges artists and cultural professionals face and examines how countries around the world are addressing these issues through policymaking. The study is based on a quadrennial global survey conducted in 2018 on the impact of the Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist, designed to track developments and identify emerging trends related to the status of the artist: over 90 responses from UNESCO Member States and non-governmental organizations, such as ITI, were received.

Source: unesco.org,  download the study here

Freemuse has just published the eport “Privatising Censorship, Digitising Violence: Shrinking Space of Women’s Rights to Create in the Digital Age” wich outlines how women artists interact with the online space and draws attention to the worrying nature and frequency of threats they are directed.

The report can be downloaded here

In the study “Temporary Shelter and Relocation Initiatives: Perspectives of Managers and Participants” commissioned by the Martin Roth Initiative (Germany), international shelter programmes are analysed from different perspectives, various models for relocation are presented, impacts and challenges are examined. The research is based on qualitative interviews and focuses on security, health, visa procurement, return opportunities, networks and financing.

The full study as well as an executive summary can be downloaded at the MRI website.

The State of Artistic Freedom 2019 report was launched on March 26 and informs about 673 cases of violations of artistic freedom that occurred in different cultural spheres in 80 countries throughout 2018.  The 2018 report had 553 cases of artistic freedom violations in 78 countries. Growing: violating freedom of artistic expression by counter-terrorism legislation. 19 artist were imprisoned and 10 were detained under the guise of counter-terrorism. Freemuse’s research concludes that nine countries (Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Nicaragua, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the United States) are found to have used anti-terrorism and ant-extremism legislation and measures against artists in 2018.

Source: Freemuse

On behalf of civil society organisations Freemuse Executive Director Srirak Plipat spoke to the 12th Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) of the 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 11 December 2018.  See above also the film that UNESCO published, based on interviews made in Norway, Senegal and Indonesia, which was presented during a public debate on artistic freedom during the IGC meeting.

Srirat called on the IGC to:

1. Prioritise the safety of artists and audiences, as attacks on artists and artistic freedom continue to rise.
2. Urge state parties to use legal and policy measures to protect women, LGBTI and minority artists from attacks and violations of artistic freedom.
3. Publicly recognise artists as human rights defenders and coordinate protection with existing international protection mechanisms.

Source: Freemuse