Artist Rights & Safety

Artists around the world are at risk. In this section, advocates and artists discuss the dangers faced by creative people around the world, and what we can do to protect them.

The Latest

Livestreaming Safe Havens Global Stream 2020

Video

Livestreaming Safe Havens Global Stream 2020

Resource-givers and policy makers in fields pertinent to freedom of artistic expression and the protection and defense of at-risk artists

Thursday 3 December 2020

Malmö, Sweden

Never Again

Video

Never Again

A conversation around restrictive Chinese government policies on China’s Uyghur ethnic minority in Uyghur Autonomous region (East Turkistan)

Monday 23 November 2020

Malmo, Sweden

School of Resistance, Episode Ten: Speaking the Truth is Not a Crime

Video

School of Resistance, Episode Ten: Speaking the Truth is Not a Crime

Will free speech save our democracy?

Thursday 19 November 2020

Ghent, Belgium

Livestreaming Safe Havens Global Stream 2020

MOM

Video

Livestreaming Safe Havens Global Stream 2020

Resource-givers and policy makers in fields pertinent to freedom of artistic expression and the protection and defense of at-risk artists

Thursday 3 December 2020

Malmö, Sweden

Safe Havens conference organized from Malmö, Sweden features international resource-givers and policy makers in fields pertinent to freedom of artistic expression and the protection and defense of at-risk artists. Livestreaming on Thursday 3 December 2020 at 7:30 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 12:30 p.m. GMT (London, UTC +0) / 13:30 CET (Berlin, UTC +1) / 20:30 CST (Taipei, UTC +8).

Freedom Talks and Safe Havens event poster.

Never Again

MOM

Video

Never Again

A conversation around restrictive Chinese government policies on China’s Uyghur ethnic minority in Uyghur Autonomous region (East Turkistan)

Monday 23 November 2020

Malmo, Sweden

Safe Havens Freedom Talks welcomed the speakers who will hold a conversation around restrictive Chinese government policies on China’s Uyghur ethnic minority in Uyghur Autonomous region (East Turkistan) in a panel discussion titled Never Again at 8:30 a.m. EST (New York, UTC -5) / 13:30 GMT (London, UTC +0) / 14:30 CET (Berlin, UTC +1) / 21:30 SGT (Singapore, UTC +8).

School of Resistance, Episode Ten: Speaking the Truth is Not a Crime

NTGent

Video

School of Resistance, Episode Ten: Speaking the Truth is Not a Crime

Will free speech save our democracy?

Thursday 19 November 2020

Ghent, Belgium

Will free speech save our democracy? Turkish author and ex-journalist Ece Temelkuran discussed together with the former drone program technician and whistle-blower Cian Westmoreland and the international human rights lawyer Renata Ávila the right of free speech and its responsibility in an age of disinformation.

An aerial photograph of a picnic table spanning the US Mexico border wall with people eating on either side.

ArtsLink Assembly: Radical Hospitality

CEC ArtsLink

Video

ArtsLink Assembly: Radical Hospitality

Resilience and thriving strategies for 2020 and beyond.

Thursday 15 October to Friday 13 November

Online

The ArtsLink Assembly convened artists, thinkers, organizations, and activists to explore resilience and thriving strategies for art and artists in the (post)-pandemic world in a series of online events and discussions. Livestreamed Thursday 15 October to Friday 13 November 2020.

Text, safe havens freedom talks at MOM #3 2020

Index on Censorship

MOM

Index on Censorship

Video

Index on Censorship

A panel on how Covid-19 is affecting press freedom globally

Friday 30 October 2020

Malmö, Sweden

Safe Havens Freedom Talks presented a panel in collaboration with Index on Censorship livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 30 October 2020 at 2:30 p.m. CET (Stockholm, UTC +2) / 13:30 BST (London, GMT +0) / 16:00 MSK (Nizhny Novgorod, UTC +3) / 9:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)

School of Resistance, episode six, poster.

School of Resistance, Episode Six: Our Human Rights Are On Fire

NTGent

Video

School of Resistance, Episode Six: Our Human Rights Are On Fire

Towards a humane migration policy with Muhammad al-Kashef and Efi Latsoudi.

Thursday 1 October 2020

Ghent, Belgium

NTGent presented School of Resistance, Episode Six: Our Human Rights Are On Fire livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 1 October 2020 at 20:00 CEST (Ghent, UTC +2) / 19:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 2:00 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 11:00 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7).

Pink background, text: safe havens in big yellow font. Below in black smaller letters, Freedom Talks @ ArtsEquator.

Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia: Proxy Wars

ArtsEquator

MOM

Video

Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia: Proxy Wars

A panel on recent arts and culture censorship

Friday 25 September 2020

Southeast Asia

Safe Havens Freedom Talks presented the panel Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia: Proxy Wars in collaboration with ArtsEquator livestreamed on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 25 September 2020 at 8:30 p.m. SGT (Singapore, UTC +8) / 2:30 p.m. CEST (Stockholm, UTC +2) / 13:30 BST (London, UTC +1) / 8:30 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4)

Intimacy Direction in the Time of Physical Distance

Emily C. A.

Snyder

Essay

Intimacy Direction in the Time of Physical Distance

25 August 2020

As artists and companies re-examine the failures of their infrastructures and unconscious biases, Emily C. A. Snyder argues that the lessons learned and challenges faced so far within the field of intimacy direction may be of particular value.

Parent Artists & the Pandemic

Event

Parent Artists & the Pandemic

We Commit to Anti-Racist Stage Management Education

Essay

We Commit to Anti-Racist Stage Management Education

28 July 2020

Stage managers Narda E. Alcorn and Lisa Porter—both women; one Black, one White—offer tools and practices to help build anti-racist stage managers.

2020 Ubumuntu Arts Festival — Stop, Breathe and Live

Ubumuntu Arts Festival

Video

2020 Ubumuntu Arts Festival — Stop, Breathe and Live

A Virtual Celebration of Arts and Humanity, organized from Kigali, Rwanda.

Friday 17 July to Sunday 19 July 2020

Kigali, Rwanda

The Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Kigali, Rwanda presented their 6th Annual Conference & Festival livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network Friday 17 July to Sunday 19 July 2020.

a person seated at a desk with multiple screens

At Home and in Lockdown with Belarus Free Theatre

verity

healey

Essay

At Home and in Lockdown with Belarus Free Theatre

The Show Goes On

30 June 2020

verity healey examines how Belarus Free Theatre is making work during COVID-19 and dives in to their latest show, A School for Fools.

We Don’t Want Your Statements, American Theatre

Kelvin

Dinkins, Jr.

Heartley

Essay

We Don’t Want Your Statements, American Theatre

or, The Solidarity We Actually Needed

11 June 2020

Al Heartley and Kelvin Dinkins, Jr., Black theatre managers who work in predominantly white American theatres, respond to the recent “solidarity” statements posted by theatres across the country after George Floyd was killed.

two miniature people balancing on a red brick in a desert.

(En)forced Mobility

On the Move

Video

(En)forced Mobility

A conversation hosted by On the Move, a cultural mobility information network

Tuesday 9 June 2020

Brussels, Belgium

On the Move — a cultural mobility information network — presented a conversation about (En)forced Mobility livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network on Tuesday 9 June 2020 at 10 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 14:00 UTC +0 / 15:00 BST (London, UTC +1) / 16:00 CEST (Brussels, UTC +2).

Answering the Call to Pause

Essay

Answering the Call to Pause

On Deciding to Postpone Due to COVID-19

2 April 2020

David Dower and David Howse—artistic director and executive director of ArtsEmerson, respectively—talk with artist Toshi Reagon about the decision to postpone her show due to COVID-19, and how that decision came from a place of power and progress.

Intimacy Director Tonia Sina expressing an idea with her arms and hands in a rehearsal with two actors

The Art and Craft of Intimacy Direction

Holly L.

Derr

Essay

The Art and Craft of Intimacy Direction

30 January 2020

Holly L. Derr examines the history of the intimacy choreography movement in the United States and speaks to several of the artists behind it all.

a large group of protesters with a Chilean flag

Theatremaking During Political Crisis

Essay

Theatremaking During Political Crisis

A Conversation with Chilean Playwright Guillermo Calderón

19 November 2019

ArtsEmerson Artistic Director David Dower speaks with Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón about the ongoing protests in Chile.

The American Theatre Was Killing Me

Essay

The American Theatre Was Killing Me

Healing from Racialized Trauma in an Art Workspace

18 November 2019

Amelia Parenteau speaks with Lauren E. Turner about racialized trauma in American theatre, Lauren’s experience with it, and healing.

The State of Acting Training in Canada

Essay

The State of Acting Training in Canada

A Summary of the Results from Got Your Back’s 2018 National Survey

3 November 2019

Sarah Robbins, Neil Silcox, and Jennifer Wigmore share findings from Got Your Back Canada’s national survey on actor training in the country.

two doors and a wall with post-it notes and large paper notes

Drawing a Line

Essay

Drawing a Line

Addressing Sexual Harassment in our Theatre Communities

17 July 2019

Dawn M. Simmons, John Meredith, and Jen Lewis, from New England’s StageSource, discuss where progress needs to happen to address harassment in the theatre industry.

Controlling the Narrative

Nora J.

Williams

Essay

Controlling the Narrative

Gendered Violence on the Contemporary Stage

7 July 2019

Nora J. Williams launches the staging gendered violence series, talks about the importance of creating responsible cultural representations of assault, and introduces the contributors of the series.

#MeToo and the Method

Holly L.

Derr

Essay

#MeToo and the Method

13 June 2019

Holly L. Derr looks at the history of the Method, where it deviates from Stanislavsky’s System, and the connection between the Method and the behavior called out by #MeToo.

Culture After #MeToo 

Video

Culture After #MeToo

A panel hosted by Játéktér Theatre Journal — Cluj, Romania

Wednesday 29 May 2019

Cluj, Romania

Játéktér theatre journal presented the panel Culture after #MeToo livestreamed from Planetarium Cafe in Cluj, Romania on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 29 May 2019 at 12 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 16:00 UTC+0 / 5 p.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 18:00 CEST (Budapest, UTC +2) / 19:00 EEST (Cluj, UTC +3).