FAIR is thrilled to launch Make Them Hear You: Stories from FAIR Artists. This new series in our Substack will highlight the stories of arts professionals whose careers have been negatively impacted by intolerance in the arts – and who have courageously decided to make their voices heard. 

Artists are facing an unprecedented cultural crisis in 2024. A new dogma is being enforced, socially and institutionally, that treats artists as members of identity groups rather than composite human beings and imputes belief systems and experiences based on immutable characteristics. Those who question this new dogma risk losing their livelihoods, and many already have. As a result, freethinking artists are censoring themselves to ensure employment in industries that would otherwise alienate them.

As actor, writer, and FAIR Arts Fellow Clifton Duncan puts it: Something is Wrong in the Arts.

We believe it is critical to make those in our community, and beyond, aware of these disturbing developments. We have been encouraged to see some mainstream outlets shed light on the victims of intolerance in the arts including Rosie Kay and Gabe Stone Shayer. This is a positive start. But these are not the only artists who face discrimination and intolerance. As we have seen at FAIR, there is an exhausted majority of artists who are awakening and speaking up. They have compelling stories and share FAIR’s vision of reclaiming and restoring core principles of fairness, understanding, and humanity. Yet there has been no concerted effort to platform their stories at scale — until now.

Twice each month, Make Them Hear You will share inspiring stories from artists who are standing up for freedom, excellence, and humanity in the face of unprecedented challenges.  Divisive groupthink is not exclusive to certain industries, institutions, or individuals; it is widespread and deeply embedded throughout the arts. But as our series will illustrate, this problem is not insurmountable. It will take a movement in the arts to solve it, and FAIR is stepping up to lead it.