Arts sector increasingly confident voicing criticism of funders, says report

People working in the arts are less fearful of financial reprisal for criticising their funders than they were five years ago, but feel more social pressure not to speak out about issues affecting the sector, a new study has suggested.

A survey by activist organisation Freedom in the Arts (FITA) found that 40% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that they wouldn’t publicly criticise the actions of funders for fear it could threaten their future funding, compared with 66% of respondents to a separate survey asking the same question five years ago.

Aiming to examine the extent to which freedom of expression in the arts has evolved over the last five years, the Afraid to Speak Freely report reuses open-source questions and results from an independent Arts Professional Freedom of Expression pulse survey conducted in 2020 as its baseline for comparison.

FITA said 483 people working across the arts and cultural sector responded to its online survey carried out in autumn 2024. In addition, it conducted semi-structured interviews with arts professionals who said they had experienced or witnessed bullying and censorship.

Political statements

Despite an apparent drop in the number of people feeling unable to directly criticise funders, the report suggests there has been a small increase in those who feel that dependence on public funding discourages open discussion about important issues in the sector, with 80% of participants agreeing or strongly agreeing, up five percentage points on the data set from 2020.

Last January, following criticism of several Arts Council England-funded organisations over their handling of issues relating to the conflict in Israel and Palestine, the funding body issued guidance warning its grant recipients to be wary of “overtly political or activist” statements which would lead to a breach in their funding agreements.

However, the guidance was reviewed a month later following a widespread backlash over concerns that it could curtail freedom of expression.

Regarding individuals expressing their personal views about issues affecting the arts sector, either in person or on social media, 35% of FITA’s respondents said they rarely felt free to speak publicly and 17% said they never did.

Meanwhile, 93% agreed or strongly agreed that workers in the arts and culture sector who share controversial opinions risk being professionally ostracised, up from 79% in 2020.

Pressure from friends

When it came to pinpointing where those questioned felt the most pressure for speaking about issues facing the arts sector, the biggest increase came from ‘friends’, which was over three times higher in 2025 than in 2020, followed by social media, press and community groups.

Around 70% said they felt pressure from colleagues, up from around 60% in 2020, while pressure from board members and funders fell.

The subjects FITA said its respondents felt were most “dangerous” to express opinions on included gender identity, race, inclusion practices, the conflict in Israel and Palestine, immigration and nationalism.

Regarding censorship from employers, FITA’s results indicate that fewer people in the arts sector are being offered gagging orders to stay silent around circumstances organisations do not wish to be made public, with only 9% of respondents saying they had been made such a deal, compared with 17% in 2020.

Speaking at a launch event for the report held on 6 May at the RSA in London, Kate Maltby, deputy chair of Index on Censorship, said FITA’s findings indicated that arts sector workers are experiencing less “institutional” censorship and more “self censorship” dictated by “social peer pressure, the power of social media” and “the horror of being picked out is that one person who’s denounced”.

Free speech standards

Among its survey participants, FITA said there was a common theme of calls for arts institutions, boards and funders to explicitly commit to free expression as a core value and take a neutral stance on political issues with suggestions that ACE should more boldly reassure organisations that engaging with controversial art or artists will not result in funding cuts.

Respondents also proposed that public funding criteria could include a requirement to uphold academic-style free speech standards or that charity law could emphasise viewpoint diversity.

Denise Fahmy co-founded FITA following an employment tribunal against her former employer, Arts Council England, which found that she had been harassed by fellow staff for her gender critical beliefs.

Fahmy called for “a concerted commitment to freedom of expression from artists, cultural leaders, and policymakers to create an environment where diverse viewpoints can thrive without fear of reprisal.”

Her fellow co-founder, choreographer Rosie Kay, who resigned from Rosie Kay Dance Company after allegations of transphobia, added: “Artists are being forced into silence, not because they lack creativity, but because they fear professional repercussions.”