On Friday and Saturday, artists across the country are participating in Fall of Freedom — an undertaking which they say represents creative resistance to authoritarianism. More than 600 events of all sizes have been announced across more than 40 states, from Alaska to Florida.
"I think the reality is that both artists and institutions right now are feeling this fear, and we're feeling unmoored about what we are supposed to do. And the fear, I think, of being silenced starts right here, starts in our heads," said Eric Gottesman, a visual artist based in Washington, D.C. He is also co-executive director of For Freedoms, an arts organization that promotes civic engagement.
Gottesman and other artists around the nation say that many of their peers at cultural institutions are feeling scared and isolated, following sweeping grant cuts at the National Endowment for the Arts, the firings of programming staff at the Kennedy Center and an executive order from President Trump requiring an audit of Smithsonian museums. In August, Trump posted on social media that museums all over the country are "the last remaining segment of WOKE."
Gottesman added that many large cultural institutions seem to be stuck. "I think in this moment, when arts institutions are paralyzed by the real fear of suppression and retribution for ideas that seem critical to the kind of freedom that democracy promises, they're not able to support artists in the way that artists usually expect arts institutions to provide support . . .and so this creates a gap."
That's where Fall of Freedom is stepping in. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, one of the organizers, said she is already seeing cultural institutions decline to program work that may be targeted as controversial or politically out of step.
"What we've encountered with regard to large museums is that they feel very fearful of retribution from the government," she said. "There are more nos than yeses because of anticipatory obedience. Artists aren't afraid, but the institutions are afraid, and they are beginning to make decisions based on their fear of losing grants and losing their major donors. And that trickles down to the artists who are beginning to lose opportunities. As a result, exhibitions are being canceled. Plays are not being programmed."
The idea for Fall of Freedom originated with visual artist Dread Scott, who approached her with an idea for "an artistic action." Nottage said it was a lifeline. She said she had been feeling "very paralyzed by how quickly things were shifting in this country. I knew I wanted to respond to the rising tide of fascism, but wasn't sure how. And then when he asked me to be part of Fall of Freedom, I thought, 'Yes, this is a beautiful organizing principle.'"
Scott's idea was to give artists an open-ended framework in which to use their creativity to speak to this moment.
"Part of what we're doing is trying to change the dynamic where these individual institutions are trying to make decisions for their own individual survival and trying to figure out how to sort of continue to make work under fascism," Scott said. "And we're trying to say, 'No, actually, let's all stand up. They might be able to pick one or two of us off, but they can't get us all if we all collectively stand together.'"
Scott observed that art has always been a catalyst in social movements and political protests.
"I tell people that, you know, what would the civil rights movement have looked like without Billie Holiday doing 'Strange Fruit'? Or what would the resistance to fascism have looked like without Picasso painting Guernica?"
He added, "The Clash and Public Enemy were deeply meaningful to me as a young art student trying to make my way in a world that I could see that was really terrible. …. Those musicians gave me license to say, 'No, the world is what's crazy, not you.'"
Fall of Freedom came about quickly, which Chicago-based artist and activist Jenny Kendler says she appreciated.
"You see how long it can take to develop cultural programs," she said. "If I'm doing a museum show, we're planning it two years out. But we don't have that amount of time right now. We need to be responsive to this moment."
Along with Scott and Nottage, other marquee names participating include musician John Legend, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, choreographer Bill T. Jones, and author Ann Patchett. Communities can also participate in zine making in Homer, Alaska, see a performance of the musical Les Miserables in Portland, Maine, and go to a dance party in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Moscow Contemporary, an arts organization in Moscow, Idaho – a city of about 27,000 people — is planning two days of events, including a roundtable discussion on civil disobedience and an open mic night.
Roger Rowley, Moscow Contemporary's executive director, said he's thinking of this as just the start of a creative movement. He said you can think of the "fall" in the name Fall of Freedom as a decline – or as part of a cycle, or season.
"This is the fall of freedom," he said. "And it's quite likely a winter of freedom that we're going to have to continue to struggle through. But we'll get to a spring of freedom and a summer of freedom on the other side. You put in the energy now, and you reap the rewards later."
This story was edited for air and digital by Jennifer Vanasco.
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