Mick Hartley

Rosie Kay in the JC – How antisemitism, fear and intolerance grip Britain’s art world. A new report from the organisation she co-founded, Freedom in the Arts, shows the depth of the problem.

One of the report’s most serious findings is that antisemitism is not incidental to this new climate. It is one of its most troubling features. Jewish artists are too often subjected to exceptional scrutiny, exclusion or suspicion. Work touching on Jewish history, identity or experience is treated as uniquely contentious. Invitations are quietly withdrawn, institutions grow nervous and silence takes hold. Much of this happens without dramatic public rows, through euphemism, avoidance and the slow withdrawal of support.

This is not only a Jewish concern; it goes to the health and integrity of the arts themselves. If Jewish artists become the people who can be dropped without consequence, if Jewish themes become the things institutions feel least confident about touching, then the entire culture becomes more mean-spirited, more cautious and more afraid. A sector that once prided itself on openness begins instead to reward conformity and caution, and to lose the complexity, confidence and moral seriousness that good cultural life requires.

Report here.