• Let’s Create Change:
    Artistic Freedom in a Time of
    Genocide and Rising Fascism

    A report by QUEERCIRCLE
    Let’s Create Change: Artistic Freedom in a Time of Genocide and Rising Fascism exposes a growing climate of censorship, funding...
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    Let’s Create Change: Artistic Freedom in a Time of Genocide and Rising Fascism exposes a growing climate of censorship, funding pressures and political influence across the UK arts sector, particularly in relation to Palestine and trans rights. 

     

    Released amid escalating global conflict and renewed debate about freedom of expression in the arts, Let’s Create Change draws on testimony from professionals across England’s visual arts sector, following two years of consultation with cultural workers and institutions. 

     

    Written by Juliet Jacques, the report outlines a comprehensive timeline of recent controversies and the shifting legislative ground that has worsened the situation for artistic freedom in the UK – a freedom that has become increasingly conditional on trustees’ sensibilities and a growing culture of fear around “reputational damage.”

     

  • “Fear of reputational damage has replaced freedom of expression. This culture of self-censorship reflects the wider narrowing of civic space in the UK, where protest and public assembly have been restricted by successive laws.”
  • KEY FINDINGS
     

    • 72% of respondents observed inconsistencies in how free speech principles are applied within their organisations.

    • Over half reported being directly affected by Arts Council England’s guidance on “matters of political debate.”

    • 56% said they had been warned that expressing certain views - particularly support for Palestine - could jeopardise funding.

    • Almost half had experienced trustees objecting to or intervening in politically engaged programming.

    • More than a quarter had been formally reported to the Charity Commission, often after making public statements in support of Gaza.

     

    Participants described being told to avoid words such as “genocide,” and being pressured to issue formal apologies for statements of solidarity with Palestine, despite their organisations previously making bold statements in support of Black Lives Matter and Ukraine.

     

    Grounded in extensive research, a series of major recent controversies point to a worrying tendency towards self-censorship in programming, such as the cancellation of two Bristol Palestine Film Festival events at the Arnolfini. It also highlights how the independence of funding and regulatory bodies has been undermined, pointing to the Charity Commission’s ongoing investigation into how its regulatory frameworks were weaponised by campaign groups. Some shocking personal accounts include an organisation being visited by police officers ahead of a Palestinian-focused community event.

     

    The report situates these experiences within a broader political context, tracing how government policies, restrictive protest laws, the media, and the weaponisation of funding have eroded artistic freedom and civic space.

     

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  • “These forces are structural, lying at the heart of how “freedom” is understood, mediated and policed, with powerful actors working with government, whichever party is in power, and the media (as discussed at the Leveson Inquiry in 2011-12) to stifle freedom of speech and expression, in what has traditionally been one of its most important vectors—the arts.”

  • THE WEAPONISATION OF FUNDING

     

    The title of the report references the Arts Council England’s strategy Let’s Create (2020-2030), and highlights widespread concern about the Arts Council England’s update to its Relationship Framework in 2024. Although ACE later clarified it would not withdraw funding purely for political expression, the updates, according to respondents, have had “an inhibiting effect,” creating “a fearful climate in which any presentation of political views must be weighed up in advance.”

  • RECOMMENDATIONS

     

    The Report calls for structural reforms to protect freedom of artistic expression, including:

    • Ending political interference in arts funding and reaffirming the arm’s-length principle between government and cultural institutions.

    • Reforming the Charity Commission’s complaints process to prevent vexatious legal and ideological challenges.

    • Establishing legal guarantees for artists and cultural workers’ rights to express political and human-rights positions.

    • Adopting ethical fundraising practices that reject partnerships complicit in human-rights violations.

    • Introducing sector-wide training on legal rights, political literacy, and freedom of expression.

    • Endorse the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic, and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). 

     

    PRESS & MEDIA REQUESTS