Artists at Risk Connection | Safety Guide for Artists | launch event 3 Feb

Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) has released its first-ever Safety Guide for Artists. While comparable tools exist for practitioners like journalists, human rights defenders, and cartoonists, no such guide currently exists for artists at large, and we hope it will fill a crucial gap in resources available for artists to learn about and better respond to risks related to their work.

When an artist first faces risk, there are not a lot of roadmaps: the experience can be incredibly isolating and disorienting. A Safety Guide for Artists explores topics such as defining and understanding risk, preparing for threats, fortifying digital safety, documenting persecution, finding assistance, and recovering from trauma.

Tips and strategies were drawn from testimony of artists who have faced persecution, including Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera, American visual artist Dread Scott, Lebanese singer Hamed Sinno, American visual artist Dread Scott, and Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu, as well as the research and expertise of ARC’s vast network of partners.

You can view the guide online here, where it is also available to download as a PDF in English, Spanish, or French.

To celebrate the launch of the guide, join ARC and U.N. Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights Karima Bennoune, photojournalist Shahidul Alam, director of Belarus Free Theater Natalia Koliada, and director of Al Mawred Al Thaqafy (Culture Resource) Helena Nassif on February 3, 2021 at 10am EST.

You can register here.