The new publication from Freemuse, the independent international organisation dedicated to defending artistic freedom, has confirmed what many in the arts community have feared: the conditions facing artists and cultural workers around the world are among the most alarming on record.
Freemuse’s State of Artistic Freedom 2026 report documents what the organisation describes as some of the most alarming conditions facing artists and cultural workers today. From war zones to democracies under strain, artists in 2025 faced censorship, arrest, violence, displacement, and mounting pressure to self-censor. The report shows how war, authoritarianism, religious extremism, far-right politics, and deepening polarisation are placing artistic freedom under growing pressure across the globe.
The report maps eight interconnected trends driving this crisis:
- war and its devastating impact on artists, cultural institutions, and heritage
- the use of nationalism, religion, and security rhetoric to justify censorship
- the spread of foreign agent laws targeting artists and cultural organisations
- the criminalisation of artistic expression through terrorism, blasphemy, obscenity, and morality laws
- increasing censorship and self-censorship around Gaza and Palestine
- heightened repression of women artists, LGBTI+ artists, and marginalised communities
- the targeting of music, film, satire, and online artistic expression
- growing pressure from non-state actors, including online campaigns, religious groups, and organised crime
The report also highlights acts of creative resistance across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, where artists are using music, film, visual art, satire, legal action, and underground networks to challenge repression. Despite the weight of the evidence, the report’s sub-title (“Courage is contagious”) reflects a spirit of defiance: where one artist resists, others are inspired to follow.
Sara Whyatt, Research Director at Freemuse, says “Repression of the freedom to create remains acute around the world. Yet, as our report shows, artists continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience, finding ways to resist oppression despite immense hardship and risk.”
The publication of this report comes just months after FIA’s 23rd Congress, held in Birmingham in November 2025, where affiliates from around the world adopted a Resolution on upholding culture, diversity and democratic freedoms against the threats of authoritarian, reactionary, and anti-democratic ideologies.
The resolution affirmed unequivocally that the fight against these forces and ideologies is a trade union issue, not only a political one. It acknowledged that globally networked, authoritarian, and reactionary forces are initiating a fundamental shift in cultural policy; through public declarations and legislative actions that undermine freedom of expression, attack diversity in the arts, and drastically reduce resources for those who sustain cultural diversity and pluralism.
The Congress mandated FIA to facilitate, through a dedicated working group, the sharing of information and experiences relating to attacks on artistic freedom and fundamental human rights, as well as threats to diversity and inclusion in the arts. It also called for joint training sessions and workshops to equip affiliates and their members with the knowledge, tools, and resilience necessary to protect artistic freedom, cultural diversity, and democratic values in their respective countries.
FIA stands firmly with the artists, performers, and cultural workers documented in the Freemuse report. Their courage in the face of repression is an inspiration to our entire community. It is also a call to responsibility: for unions, federations, and the wider arts and culture sector to redouble their efforts in defending the conditions that make artistic freedom possible.
We encourage all FIA affiliates to read the State of Artistic Freedom 2026 report, share it widely with their members, and draw on it in their advocacy work at national and regional level. The work of documenting these abuses matters. The solidarity we build in response matters even more.
The State of Artistic Freedom 2026 report is available for download here.
