Defending Artistic Freedom

The municipality of Kristiansand is organizing an international forum for artistic freedom of speech during the Democracy week in May 2025. The call goes out to artists that are anchored in an organization/network which can facilitate further work after the forum. Just as important is their motivation for this type of commitment and follow-up afterwards. The aim is to invite in total 5-7 international artists and the same amount of local or regional artists.

During the forum, we will create a meeting place and a point of reference for the participants. Friday 2nd of May, we have a reading and workshop on democracy and the media. Then there will be a 2-day weekend workshop on the 3rd and 4th of May held by renowned authorities on democratic frameworks, Sverre Pedersen and Sara Whyatt. Monday 5th of May the participants will present their results during the European Conference on Democracy and Human Rights www.europakonferansen.no. The main objective is finally to gather artists, inspire and empower them to defend their artistic freedom.

Collaborators

The municipality is collaborating with the county of Agder about the program for the forum as well as the workshop. Other collaborators are the University of Agder with the Faculty of Fine Arts and the Department of Nordic and Media Studies. We are open for participation of a couple of selected researchers to join in the forum as well as the workshop.

The artists, the workshop and Democracy week

Our ambition with this workshop is to create a long-term effect. Those who participate will be inspired to get involved in the work to defend artistic freedom after they have participated in this workshop. It is important that those who are selected as participants have an anchoring in an organization or network/environment that they can use as a platform for further work.

It is important for the holders of the workshop to know the motivation of the people that are chosen as participants, and not least to know their motivation for participating. The selection of the workshop participants must be well thought out, both with regard to the workshop itself and, not least, the follow-up and work after the workshop.

After the workshop, the participants will be able to present their results and findings both at the European Conference on Democracy and Human Rights www.europakonferansen.no and during the after party that is being organised for the artistic field in Kristiansand.

Some themes from the weekend workshop

Rights and protections enshrined in the international conventions.
Important trends and challenges artistic freedom faces in a polarized world, where democracy and human rights are under increasing pressure and where an ever-increasing part of the world's population lives under authoritarianism.
Freemuse methodologies on documentation and monitoring of violations of artistic freedom
Examples of collaborations on periodic reports to the UN and elaboration on pro and cons.
How can we continue working together to defend artistic freedom.

Publisert: 7. mars 2025 11:11
Oppdatert: 7. mars 2025 11:24

Design: Tress Design | Webløsning: Monoform