Based in Brighton, England, UK, Freelancers Make Theatre Work (FMTW) is a UK-wide grassroots organization supporting the 200,000+ self-employed and freelance workers who make up 70% of the UK theatre workforce, covering all areas of theatre, opera, dance and live performance. FMTW aims to encourage more transparent and inclusive conversations within the performing arts industry…
The Friends of Attention is a nonprofit group of creative peers fighting the attention crisis. They work to take back our focus from big companies that mine our minds for profit and power. Their first book, Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement, is a bold guide that asks readers to do one simple…
WASHINGTON, DC — On Monday, August 31, 2026, 2–3 p.m. EDT join the Smithsonian Institution at its Arts and Industries Building for Curators in Conversation: American Music in Democracy. The program will explore how our America’s soundtrack has shaped, challenged, and reflected our democratic ideals. This dynamic discussion is held in conjunction with the Smithsonian…
How Books Can Save Democracy argues that American democracy is in crisis as healthy disagreement has pivoted into negative, winner-take-all contests. Author Michael Fischer proposes that literature is an essential tool to rekindle the relationships and mutual understanding that functional democracies require. By participating in reading, writing, and discussions about literature with diverse perspectives—whether in…
More in Common’s mission is to understand the forces driving us apart and find common ground to tackle the most pressing challenges. It has national teams in Brazil, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. While there are similar forces threatening democratic societies, More in Common has established separate national teams…
National Coalition Against Censorship’s Arts and Culture Advocacy Program is the only project dedicated to protecting artistic freedom within the United States. Launched in 2000, NCAC’s Arts and Culture Advocacy Program upholds artists’ participation in democratic dialogue by defending public access to their work and supporting their ability to freely express views that might be…
LINCROFT, NEW JERSEY, US — From October 12–16, 2026, Brookdale Community College presents Democracy Takes Creativity. In a moment of rapid change, uncertainty, and shifting civic life, we are called not only to protect democracy—but to reimagine it. This year’s theme invites us to explore creativity not as decoration, but as necessity. Creativity as problem-solving.…
NEW HAMPSHIRE, US — A group of nonprofits are excited to announce the launch of a new multi-location therapeutic art program specifically for veterans and first responders in New Hampshire. The program will hold sessions in Franklin, Nashua, and Tamworth. The program is free for all participants. All sessions will begin in September, 2026, and…
Can art change the world? That was the question Columbia University asked Columbia Global Senior Advisor Vishakha Desai in a Jun 28, 2026 interview about Politics of Visual Arts in a Changing World, 2014-2024. Edited by Desai, and apanning themes of protest art, museum ethics, restitution, and institutional transformation, the book considers how visual arts…
MAGDEBURG, DE — In upcoming state elections to be held Sep. 6, polls suggest the Alternative for Germany (AfD) could win an absolute majority in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Based on the AfD’s cultural policy program, museums, theaters and cultural institutions in the region say that artistic freedom is one of the far-right…