“When Congress and the city of Chicago intend to outlaw your work, it shows the power of art, but also the extraordinary lengths [to which] the government is willing to go, including ripping up its own Constitution, to suppress the voice of a previously unknown undergraduate art student.”

— Dread Scott, ARC Safety Guide contributor and Dangerous Art, Endangered Artists Summit participant.

Learn more about Dread’s insights and those of the other eight artists interviewed for “What Happened When Their Art Was Banned” in The New York Times. These crucial accounts of navigating, and learning to overcome censorship are particularly relevant as the pressures facing artists across the country continue to mount: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/t-magazine/artists-censorship-book-bans.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Read Dread’s profile in ARC’s Safety Guide for Artists: https://artistsatriskconnection.org/safety-guide-profile/dread-scott/

Credit: "What is the Proper Way to Display a US Flag?" (Installation for audience participation,) 1989. Image courtesy of the artist.

@dreadscottart @nytimes ...

This week marks 4 years since poet and #FreedomToWrite Award honoree Galal El-Behairy should have been released from prison. Despite finishing an unjust 3-year sentence for his writing in 2021, he remains unlawfully detained in Egypt to this day.

Alongside ARC and 9 other human rights organizations, PEN America sent a joint letter urging the Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S. Motaz Zahran to raise our concerns about El-Behairy’s detention to the relevant authorities in Cairo.

We demand El-Behairy’s immediate release and humane treatment in custody, including access to medical care, legal counsel, and books. His ongoing detention violates Egyptian and international law:

Read the joint letter with @penamerica @pen_canada @peninternational @officialfreedomhouse, المنبر المصري لحقوق اﻹنسان. @menarightsgroup @humenaorg @tahririnstitute, and Democracy for the Arab World Now - DAWN. #FreeGalal

https://artistsatriskconnection.org/statement/joint-letter-to-the-egyptian-ambassador-to-the-u-s-urging-action-on-the-ongoing-detention-of-galal-el-behairy/ ...

“It feels like the world has forgotten about us,” said artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who recently served four years of his sentence in a maximum-security Cuban prison.

Read Cuban-American artist, writer, and ARC "Dangerous Art, Endangered Artists" summit participant Coco Fusco`s moving profile on Cuban artist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. The artist has been unjustly imprisoned since he was arrested when anti-government protests swept the country.

https://hyperallergic.com/1028230/coco-fusco-dialogues-with-political-prisoner-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara/

#SOSCuba @peninternational @luismanuel.oteroalcantara @cocof_usco

Image credit: Carlos Martiel, “Untitled” (2025); Courtesy of the artist ...

“The United States withdrawal from UNESCO undermines one of the world’s leading institutions dedicated to defending artistic freedom, safeguarding cultural heritage, and promoting inclusive, democratic values.”

ARC today expressed its grave concerns over the U.S. administration’s announcement that it will fully withdraw from the agency. Read our full statement: https://artistsatriskconnection.org/statement/us-withdraws-unesco-furthering-isolationist-policies/

@peninternational @penamerica @otm.network ...

"On 22 July 2024, a Cairo activist, cartoonist, and translator named Ashraf Omar was taken from his home by plainclothes officers. Forty-eight hours elapsed before there was any official acknowledgment of his arrest or confirmation of his wellbeing or location."

Today, Ashraf remains imprisoned. Read @cartooningforpeace, @cartoonistsrights, and @almanassa_ar’s full statement, co-signed by ARC:
https://artistsatriskconnection.org/statement/marking-one-year-since-ashraf-omars-arrest/

@peninternational @committeetoprotectjournalists
@channeldraw
@rsfinternational
@freemuse.98
@indexcensorship

Image credit: Gianluca Costantini. Courtesy of the artist. ...

ARC’s Executive Director Julie Trébault recently met with Palestinian poet Doha Kahlout @doha_kahlout, now living in France after she received support through the PAUSE program.

This initiative of the French state supports scientists and artists in exile by facilitating their placement at higher education and cultural institutions across France, while also advocating for academic and artistic freedom.

Doha is being sponsored by École nationale supérieure d’arts de Paris-Clergy @ensapc and Columbia University in Paris @columbiainparis

We are so happy to have met Doha, and are immensely grateful that she can continue to create in safety.

@peninternational @bardcollege @maanforgaza ...