“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers,” states Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Although this right has existed for more than two decades, Karima Bennounce (2018) noted that the exercise of these rights has recently been threatened in the cultural sphere, “by those who advocate various forms of domination and discrimination, as well as by various populists, fundamentalists and extremists.” This prompted the Compendium team and the board of the Compendium Association to look at the framework conditions and current challenges in the cultural sector. Inevitably, the question arose to what extent cultural policy still values and upholds the freedom of artistic expression. This question led, among other questions, to the focus of the cultural policy research campaign “Silencing Dissent? – On Barriers to Freedom of Artistic Expression“. The campaign invites the sector to take a critical look at the status quo of today’s freedom of artistic expression and to have an open exchange about the barriers that limit the creative diversity of artists.
Below, you will find the key findings of this campaign. We have provided background information with many useful resources and documents on Artistic Freedom. We have also included the full report written by Andreas Joh. Wiesand on Barriers to Freedom of Artistic Expression, as well as the results of our survey on the state of Artistic Freedom in Europe.
