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Art Censorship

NCAC Condemns Chicago City Council’s Efforts to Censor Art Exhibition Criticizing Government Actions

By |2025-01-24T16:43:57-05:00January 24th, 2025|News|

January 23, 2025 — Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) expressed alarm at Chicago city councilmembers’ attempts to censor political artwork on view in an exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. Government officials’ efforts to silence speech because of distaste for its political position raise acute First Amendment concerns. The artwork in question is a massive, two-sided papier-mache puppet [...]

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As Concerns of Art Censorship Rise in Nation’s Museums, NCAC Encourages Museum Directors, Curators, and other Cultural Leaders to Employ its Best Practices

By |2025-01-17T14:17:22-05:00January 17th, 2025|In The News, Press Releases|

New York, January 16, 2025 – In the wake of a newly-released report warning of censorship pressures faced by museum directors across the US conducted by the Association for Art Museum Directors, PEN America, and Artists at Risk Connection, the National Coalition Against Censorship encourages cultural leaders to incorporate its Museum Best Practices for Managing Controversy into museum policies. [...]

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NCAC Decries Art Censorship at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

By |2025-01-13T13:52:44-05:00January 9th, 2025|Censorship News Articles, Censorship News Issues, Letters, News|

Photo Credit: Composite image of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and Sally Mann’s A Perfect Tomato(1990), edited by NCAC staff Today the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), condemned the police seizure of artworks from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth as apparent evidence in a criminal investigation of child abuse. The works in question, made [...]

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NCAC and FIRE Express Alarm Over East Tennessee State University’s Treatment of the FL3TCH3R Exhibit

By |2024-12-06T14:53:36-05:00December 4th, 2024|News|

2024 FL3TCH3R Exhibit Catalog cover design Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression expressed alarm at new exhibition protocols at East Tennessee State University’s Reece Museum, which undermine the artistic integrity of the current exhibition on view. The exhibition, titled The FL3TCH3R Exhibit, provides a platform for artworks exploring social and political themes. Read [...]

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A Call to MSU: End Censorship, Protect Artistic Expression

By |2024-12-11T11:13:58-05:00October 15th, 2024|News|

(Left) Samia Halaby, Six Golden Heroes, 2021 & (Right) Alia Farid, Piquete en el Capitolo, 2023 UPDATE 2/02/2024: Success! NCAC has received reports that the artwork by Alia Farid, Piquete en el capitolio, has been returned to the original location selected by the exhibition’s curators–an implicit admission that MSU was wrong to relocate the work in the [...]

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Artist Feature: Danielle SeeWalker

By |2024-09-24T11:21:33-04:00September 23rd, 2024|Artist Feature, News|

Danielle SeeWalker, Buffalo Run, 2023. Mural commissioned for the Brown International Academy in Denver, CO. Arts & Culture Advocacy Program: A couple of months ago, news outlets reported on the cancellation of your artist residency with Art in Public Places in Vail, Colorado. How did the residency first come about? Danielle SeeWalker: In January of this year I [...]

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NCAC Decries Lubbock’s Art Funding Cut Targeting LGBTQ+ Programming

By |2024-11-01T15:58:23-04:00August 8th, 2024|News|

UPDATE - August 15, 2024: Following advocacy efforts and community concern, the Lubbock city council considered whether to fully reinstate the funding without any restrictions. In the final vote, the City Council approved a greatly reduced grant of $5,000 for security at FFAT. The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) expressed disappointment, but assured its commitment to [...]

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Artistic Freedom Under Fire: NCAC Denounces Vail’s Cancellation of Danielle SeeWalker’s Residency

By |2024-08-05T12:51:58-04:00August 5th, 2024|News|

Image caption: Danielle SeeWalker, G is for Genocide, 2024 In May, NCAC was alarmed to learn about the Town of Vail, Colorado’s decision to cancel Danielle SeeWalker’s artist residency with the town’s Art in Public Places Program. The residency was to include the commission of a new mural, a photo exhibition of existing work depicting contemporary [...]

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National Coalition Against Censorship Launches Map Tracking Art Censorship Since October 7th

By |2024-07-18T16:16:22-04:00July 18th, 2024|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) announces the launch of a new resource, Art Censorship Index: Post-October 7th, documenting the recent spike in censorship of art and artists invoking Israel or Palestine.  Artworks and artists referencing the subject of Israel and Palestine have long been subjects of controversy and/or censorship, but following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and [...]

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NCAC, PEN America, and ACLU-FL: DeSantis’s Veto of Florida Arts Funding Raises First Amendment Concerns

By |2024-07-18T12:15:43-04:00July 17th, 2024|News|

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore Today the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), PEN America, and the ACLU of Florida (ACLU-FL) condemned Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s veto of the entirety of the state’s annual arts budget, because the governor stated the decision was based on his distaste for certain types of artistic expression. In particular, the governor [...]

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NCAC Decries Exhibition Cancellation at Craft Alliance

By |2024-07-10T14:14:19-04:00July 10th, 2024|News, Statement|

Dani Collette and Allora McCullough, Planting Seeds, Sprouting Hope, 2024, Installation view. Today the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) expressed alarm at the cancellation of an exhibition at Craft Alliance, an art organization in St. Louis, MO. Following a complaint from a volunteer, the venue asserted that the project, which draws attention to the plight [...]

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NCAC URGES CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS NOT TO ABANDON KEHINDE WILEY EXHIBITIONS IN FACE OF ALLEGATIONS

By |2024-09-04T20:03:52-04:00June 21st, 2024|News, Statement|

Photo Credit: Ted Eytan  https://www.tedeytan.com/2018/03/02/25277 The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) raised objections today regarding recent announcements by the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Minneapolis Museum of Art, and the Joslyn Art Museum to postpone or cancel planned exhibitions featuring work by renowned American artist Kehinde Wiley. In recent weeks the artist’s behavior and moral integrity [...]

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Artist Feature: Evan Apodaca

By |2024-09-23T16:22:25-04:00May 21st, 2024|News|

In March 2023, a month after installing his artwork Monumental Interventions in a temporary exhibition at the San Diego Airport, Evan Apodaca received a letter from airport authorities informing him that the airport was terminating its contract with the artist and removing his work from view. Publicly, the airport stated that Apodaca’s then-final iteration of the project [...]

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No to the Heckler’s Veto: Fear of Protest Should Not be a Reason to Silence Speakers

By |2024-07-17T16:03:18-04:00April 19th, 2024|Blog|

When political passions run high, disagreement is often expressed as vocal protest. Cultural institutions in a democratic society need to be prepared to manage such protests without silencing the voices they target. Instead, vague “safety concerns” are used to justify the suppression of speech within US cultural and educational institutions with alarming frequency.  On April 15th, the Provost and [...]

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NCAC: ARTSPACE’S VAGUE POLICIES RESTRICTING “INAPPROPRIATE,” “SENSITIVE” ARTWORKS THREATEN ARTISTIC FREEDOM ACROSS THE U.S.

By |2024-03-20T13:09:03-04:00March 20th, 2024|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) raised concerns today that Artspace, the nation’s leading developer of arts facilities, has repeatedly censored artworks presented on their properties. Since 2017, NCAC has been made aware of three incidents resulting in the removal of arts displays, as well as the 2023 ousting of an artist subtenant as punishment for an exhibition of [...]

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National Coalition Against Censorship Applauds Public Art UHS in its Commitment to Complete Installation of Shahzia Sikander Exhibition

By |2024-11-01T15:59:35-04:00March 18th, 2024|News, Press Releases, Statement|

UPDATE - July 10, 2024: Following NCAC’s advocacy efforts, Public Art UHS completed the installation of Shahzia Sikander’s exhibition, Havah… to breathe, air, life and revised its FAQ document to include more information about the work from the artist. Months following the installation of the exhibition, Sikander’s sculpture, titled Witness, was beheaded by an unidentified vandal. The artist has requested [...]

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National Organizations Sound the Alarm: Suppressing Art Because it Relates to Political Conflict Is a Violation of Artistic Freedom

By |2024-03-07T12:33:46-05:00March 7th, 2024|News, Statement|

National arts and civil rights organizations expressed deep concern today over the extent to which cultural institutions are halting the development of programs that can be interpreted as relating to the conflict in Israel and Palestine.  A rash of cancellations over the past few months has affected cultural programs and exhibitions that contain references to the conflict or that [...]

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Echoes of McCarthy: Criticizing Israel and Charges of Antisemitism

By |2024-07-17T16:00:40-04:00January 25th, 2024|News|

Just two months before the long-planned February opening of Samia Halaby’s art retrospective, Indiana University (IU) abruptly canceled the show, citing vague concerns “about guaranteeing the integrity of the exhibit.” But the concerns had nothing to do with Halaby’s colorful abstractions. The last time abstract works were controversial in the United States was during the McCarthy era, when Congressman [...]

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NCAC urges Indiana University to Reschedule Exhibition of Abstract Artist Samia Halaby

By |2024-10-18T17:32:06-04:00January 11th, 2024|Letters, News|

Today, NCAC issued a letter of concern to the leadership of Indiana University, imploring the university to reverse its December 2023 decision to cancel the upcoming retrospective exhibition of renowned Palestinian-American abstract painter, Samia Halaby. “Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy” was to open in February at the university’s Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art and feature more than [...]

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NCAC Condemns Greek Foreign Minister’s Censorship of NYC Artist

By |2023-12-21T14:12:47-05:00December 21st, 2023|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) raised concerns today regarding the censorship of an exhibition at the Greek Consulate in New York. An artwork by New York-based artist Georgia Lale was removed on the order of Greece’s Foreign Minister, George Gerapetritis. Political criticism of one of Lale’s works grew following the exhibition’s opening last week, when the leader of the [...]

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Día de los Muertos altar sparks controversy over inclusion of Palestinian flag

By |2023-11-06T16:55:16-05:00November 6th, 2023|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship is alarmed by the recent decision of El Museo del Barrio, a museum in upper Manhattan, to cancel the display of Recordar y Unificar, a Día de los Muertos altar it commissioned from artists Odalys Burgoa and Roy Baizan, for the sole reason that the work includes a scarf with the Palestinian flag on [...]

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NCAC Proudly Announces Its Student Film Contest Winners

By |2023-11-07T16:57:17-05:00November 6th, 2023|News|

NEW YORK – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is thrilled to announce the winners of its Youth Free Expression Student Film Contest. This year's competition brought together young filmmakers from all walks of life to celebrate and advocate for the unyielding power of free speech through creativity.  The contest, which invited students to submit three-minute films addressing themes [...]

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Artistic Expression Under Fire: Controversy in the Catherine Schweinsberg Rood Central Library

By |2023-10-24T12:09:30-04:00October 24th, 2023|News|

In Brevard County, Florida, an artist and member of the Central Brevard Art Association (CBAA), John Cielukowski, participated in the Association's "Art in Public Spaces" initiative, which hangs art in publicly-owned buildings. For the Catherine Schweinsberg Rood Central Library, the artist submitted his painting A Mother's Love, which depicts a mother cow with an ear tag, separated from her [...]

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NCAC, ACLU-AZ caution of pyrrhic victory as Mesa vows tighter controls over its arts center

By |2023-09-12T18:00:44-04:00September 12th, 2023|News|

MESA, ARIZONA - Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship's (NCAC) Arts and Culture Advocacy Program (ACAP) and the ACLU of Arizona released a joint statement responding to the City of Mesa's pledge to exercise greater control over artistic content in future exhibitions at Mesa Arts Center, which may lead to the prohibition of artwork that is deemed "controversial" or "critical" of government agencies. This commitment comes on the heels of the local and national [...]

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Free speech community demands Daytona State College reschedule “Stranger Fruit” exhibition

By |2023-09-11T12:12:48-04:00September 11th, 2023|News|

As nonpartisan organizations dedicated to freedom of speech, thought, and inquiry, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLU-FL), and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) are deeply disturbed by reports indicating that Daytona State College canceled an upcoming exhibition at the school's Southeast Museum of Photography because it refers to [...]

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NCAC, ACLU of Arizona, demand the immediate rescheduling of exhibit that features Shepard Fairey’s “My Florist is a Dick”

By |2023-08-11T11:23:02-04:00August 10th, 2023|News|

NEW YORK - In a joint letter, the National Coalition Against Censorship’s (NCAC) Arts and Culture Advocacy Program (ACAP) and the ACLU of Arizona demand that officials in Mesa, Arizona, allow the opening of an art exhibit, Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent, which includes a controversial work, My Florist is a Dick, by renowned artist Shepard Fairey. City officials [...]

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NCAC, ACLU NorCal encourage the City of San Mateo, California, to reinstate Public Art Exhibit Program | Updated

By |2023-08-08T10:02:42-04:00July 28th, 2023|News|

Update 8/7/2023: The City of San Mateo has responded that it will reinstate its public exhibition programs after it establishes a more detailed review policy for the artworks that are invited for display. The City also confirms Mr. Rios' exhibition was met with "concerns from members of the public and City staff that the display was not supportive of [...]

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Lee Rowland named National Coalition Against Censorship Executive Director

By |2023-08-08T11:42:45-04:00July 24th, 2023|News|

NEW YORK – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), an alliance of 59 national non-profit organizations, today announced that Lee Rowland, the policy director at the New York Civil Liberties Union, will become its new executive director. She replaces Christopher Finan, who is retiring.  Rowland will assume her new duties on September 13, 2023. “The NCAC board of directors [...]

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Free speech community opposes Rockwell Falls Public Library Board’s attack on First Amendment rights in Lake Luzerne, New York

By |2023-07-14T12:14:11-04:00July 14th, 2023|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and members of the free speech community are alarmed by the Rockwell Falls Public Library Board's postponement and subsequent cancellation of an April 15 Drag Queen Story Hour, as well as recent suggestions from board members to remove any books that encompass LGBTQ+ themes or topics that purportedly relate to Critical Race Theory. [...]

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ELLIS Alicante and Don’t Delete Art collaborate on the intersection between AI and Art

By |2024-08-02T16:54:45-04:00July 10th, 2023|News|

The collaboration will focus on online protection of artistic freedom  Alicante, 10 of July 2023– The ELLIS Alicante Foundation in Spain and the Don’t Delete Art initiative in the USA have joined forces to foster the responsible development of trustworthy, human-centric Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of art. Both institutions have pledged to give visibility to the negative [...]

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NCAC calls on Chevron to return public art installation | Updated

By |2023-09-28T11:18:14-04:00June 29th, 2023|News|

Updated 9/27/2023 – On June 12, 2023 Chevron acknowledged that it had destroyed the Fencelines community art project, which the company has characterized as an act of vandalism installed solely along their properties. On June 28, however, the City of Richmond affirmed the assertions of project organizers, that a majority of the work was installed with permission on city-owned [...]

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Santa Barbara, California, High School Removes Artwork After Religious Controversy

By |2023-06-20T11:22:37-04:00June 20th, 2023|Letters, News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Santa Barbara Unified School District in California following news reports that Andres Serrano's artwork "Immersion (Piss Christ)" was removed from the curriculum of a course at Dos Pueblos High School. The district removed the image because some community members found it hurtful. NCAC urges the district to return the image [...]

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Through Don’t Delete Art Manifesto, Free Speech Orgs Combat Social Media Policies that Suppress Artistic Expression

By |2024-08-02T16:54:44-04:00June 15th, 2023|News, Press Releases|

NEW YORK— Don’t Delete Art (DDA)—a collaborative initiative uniting advocacy groups and artists in the defense of artistic freedom online—held A Day of Action today in New York City and online. The actions are an extension of the group’s Manifesto campaign, which urges social media companies to integrate artistic perspectives into content moderation policies. The day's activities are documented [...]

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Legal Filing Argues that Netflix Can’t be Held Liable for Depicting Suicide in its Series 13 Reasons Why Under the First Amendment

By |2024-09-30T15:28:27-04:00June 13th, 2023|Blog, News, Press Releases|

(NEW YORK) – PEN America, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), and the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) on Monday jointly filed an amicus brief to support the First Amendment rights of Netflix in a lawsuit over the series 13 Reasons Why, which depicted suicide. Netflix is being sued for damages following a 15-year-old girl’s [...]

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Artists, Free Speech Orgs to Protest Suppression of Artistic Expression by Social Media Companies

By |2024-08-19T06:16:03-04:00June 8th, 2023|News, Press Releases|

New York, NY— Don’t Delete Art (DDA)—a collaborative initiative uniting advocacy groups and artists in the defense of artistic freedom online—will lead A Day of Action on June 15, 2023, in New York City and on social media. The actions are an extension of the DDA Manifesto campaign, which urges social media companies to update their content moderation policies [...]

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San Diego County Regional Airport Authority removes video installation from airport exhibition

By |2023-04-28T16:34:52-04:00April 20th, 2023|News|

Artwork credit: Evan Apodaca, Monumental Interventions, 2023 (Video still). The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has contacted the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority to express concerns over the removal of artwork by artist Evan Apodaca from an exhibition at San Diego Regional Airport. Apodaca's video installation titled Monumental Interventions explores San Diego's monuments and the role of the [...]

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National film contest seeks submissions on how youth deal with conflicting ideas

By |2023-04-25T14:49:44-04:00April 18th, 2023|News, Press Releases, Videos|

NEW YORK – As proven by the recent uptick in book banning, people often want to silence ideas that they feel are harmful or offensive. Daily, youth are confronted with views they disagree with, from school censorship to online hate speech. How are youth and young adults coping with conflicting viewpoints? The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) wants [...]

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NCAC protests decision to remove eight books from the school library in a Maine school district

By |2023-04-20T14:09:51-04:00April 17th, 2023|News|

The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Board of Directors at Maine School Administrative District #6 in Buxton, Maine, to protest the decision to suspend its policy for reviewing book challenges to remove eight books from the school library before reviewing a complaint.  Removed titles include Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, [...]

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NCAC protests Sioux City Community Schools’ removal of This Book is Gay from libraries | Updated

By |2023-04-12T13:06:12-04:00April 6th, 2023|Letters, News|

Updated 4/12/2023 – The District Board President has responded to our letter. His email stated:  Primarily, the book presented safety issues as it describes how to access unsuitable websites and other “hookup” processes. It is completely inappropriate for our students.   As a result of the safety issues, we determined that the inappropriate book would be pulled.  The book [...]

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NCAC offers school admin Guidelines for Developing Policies on The Display of Student Art

By |2023-04-03T16:42:57-04:00April 3rd, 2023|News, Resources|

As challenges to school library books and instructional materials are on the rise across the country, artistic censorship in schools has received less attention. However, school districts everywhere are struggling with increased political scrutiny on curricular and extracurricular artistic expression. School administrators are increasingly feeling pressured to censor or alter visual art with potential "controversial" or "problematic" subject matter. [...]

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