39th Session of the General Conference

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The Election of Members of the Executive Board took place on 8 November 2017. Click here for the results of the election
International experts participated in the panel discussion “Setting a New Agenda: Partnerships for Artistic Freedom” organized by Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden Permanent Delegations to UNESCO together with the Culture Sector. The event was introduced by the video “Artistic Freedom is not a luxury” and moderated by Francesco Bandarin, Assistant Director-General for Culture.

“Violations of artistic freedom, whether by State or non-State actors, have increased over the last years. The challenge is to get verified information and data, and then translate that into positive action on the ground, through national policies and laws protecting artists’ rights”, stressed Srirak Plipat, Executive Director of Freemuse. Katja Holm, Vice-president of the International Federation of Actors, emphasized the importance of empowering artists and civil society. “To monitor violations and get the stories out, the artists themselves need to understand their rights. We also need to better explain why these rights are crucial to our democratic systems”, she said. Elin Rosenström of the Swedish Arts Council stressed “Even though Sweden has a strong legislative framework and an Action Plan in place protecting artistic expression, these threats often translate into self-censorship by artists”.