– Presented in Brussels, the “State of Artistic Freedom” report by Freemuse.org documents a world in which the conditions for free creative expression are deteriorating rapidly
The subtitle Courage Is Contagious quotes Iranian women’s rights activist and Freemuse.org researcher Parvin Ardalan, and it carries an implicit call to action: in a world this fraught, we should all spread this contagion and become more courageous.
The data behind the latest “State of Artistic Freedom” report, presented in Brussels at an event hosted by FERA, are stark. Global democracy has declined to levels last seen in 1985. Autocracies now outnumber democracies for the first time in more than two decades, and nearly three-quarters of the world’s population live under authoritarian rule. Against that backdrop, artists in 2025 faced censorship, arrest, violence, displacement and mounting pressure to self-censor.
“Wars, authoritarian regimes, far-right groups and religious fundamentalism are increasing in scope in all parts of the world, attacking human rights and the international rules-based order,” says Sverre Pedersen, executive director of Freemuse. “The work to defend artistic freedom has never been more important.”
In conflict zones such as Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, Lebanon and Iran, artists and cultural institutions came under direct attack. Elsewhere, governments adopted a different approach: foreign agent laws, counter-terrorism statutes, blasphemy codes, morality legislation and funding cuts, all deployed to silence dissent.
The report identifies eight interconnected trends driving the crisis: the devastation inflicted by war on artists and cultural heritage; the use of nationalism, religion and security rhetoric to justify censorship; the spread of foreign agent laws; the criminalisation of artistic expression through terrorism, obscenity and morality charges; growing censorship around Palestine; intensified repression of women, LGBTI+ artists and marginalised communities; the targeting of music, film, satire and online expression; and rising pressure from non-state actors such as religious groups, organised crime and online harassment campaigns.
Self-censorship, the report notes, is widespread and by nature difficult to quantify, even in democratic contexts. It manifests itself in artists who quietly adapt their work, curators who postpone projects, and institutions that soften their programming to avoid controversy, particularly on polarising issues such as Gaza.
Freemuse is aware of the risks of incomplete data collection. The documented cases are verified and indicative of broader trends, but they almost certainly represent only a fraction of the full picture. This is also a consequence of funding cuts to civil society actors that monitor abuses.
What also emerges, however, is resistance. Across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Europe and the United States, artists are responding through music, film, visual art, satire, legal action and underground networks. They are, in the report’s implicit framing, carriers of precisely the contagion Parvin Ardalan named.
As “State of Artistic Freedom 2026” makes clear, artistic freedom is one of the foundations of democracy and human rights, and right now, it is under siege.
Read the full report here.
