NCAC is alarmed to learn of the Rhode Island School of Art and Design’s decision to close its public campus cafe, which had been hosting To Every Orange Tree, a group exhibition of student, faculty, and community members’ work on themes of “political resistance, anti-imperialism, and Palestinian liberation.”
RISD administrators claimed that “unofficial complaints” about the exhibition led to unspecified “safety concerns” necessitating the closure. They are now mandating that the exhibition be moved to a small campus office that is only accessible by student ID keycards, to ensure that audiences “consent” to its viewing. While hosting an on-campus exhibition with pro-Palestine views is no doubt challenging in this McCarthyist moment, an institution of higher education that emphasizes the arts should be able to meet the challenge of hosting this exhibition without capitulating to a presidential administration intent on forcing our nation’s cultural and educational institutions in compliance with its political ideology.
In a letter to RISD administrators, Elizabeth Larison, the Director of NCAC’s Arts and Culture Advocacy Program, urged the school “to uphold its values as a premier private art and design school rather than shamefully capitulate to undemocratic censorious pressures.”
Read NCAC’s full letter to Rhode Island School of Art and Design here:Click here for a full-screen view: