Alongside the Mobility Info Points (MIP), in 2019 some On the Move members have set up a working group on At-risk and Displaced Arts Workers to share practices, common actions, and advocacy tools, and, when opportunities arise, to share their experiences in public sessions. This group has been expanded from organisations working specifically on at-risk and displaced arts workers to organisations and initiatives that wish to act more on the issue, considering the increase of involuntary mobility in the arts and cultural sector.
The working group is facilitated by Mary Ann DeVlieg, founder of On the Move and International Arts Rights Adviser, with the support of Birgit Ellinghaus (alba KULTUR).
What do we mean by at-risk and displaced mobility?
At-risk and displaced refers to an artist or a cultural professional whose mobility is not purely voluntary. It can be linked to taking up a professional opportunity in another country or region, such as a performance, exhibition, residency or study, but there is a definite element of constraint.
An artist/cultural professional may have moved location to avoid censorship and persecution, armed conflict, natural disasters, violations of human rights including freedom of sexual orientation, extreme poverty, or other difficulties that made them need to leave their home. They may be constrained to stay in a country they assumed would only be a temporary stay, due to pandemic health restrictions. Their visa may be temporary; their civic status may be in flux: they may have been denied citizenship, be seeking asylum, have gained (or not) refugee status, be clandestine or simply classed as a migrant.
Activities
- Report of the working group discussions in 2018 (Lisbon) and 2019 (Prague) - Document edited by Mary Ann DeVlieg, with inputs from Cité Internationale des Arts, MobiCulture, Arts and Theatre Institute, Touring Artists, IGBK, Cultuurloket, Wales Arts International / Arts Council of Wales. ARC-Artists at Risk Connection, Howlround and Tamizdat.
- (En)forced Mobility, an On the Move supported session in partnership with Howlround, 9 June 2020 - A one hour online session with representatives from ICORN, Howlround, Touring Artists and Cité Internationale des Arts - video of the discussion on (en)forced mobility.
- Safe Havens Conference Global Stream, 12 and 13 November 2020 - online (including a working session on changes and solutions related to the Covid-19 situation and relocation issues on 12 November with OTM members including Cité international des Arts, alba KULTUR and Artists at Risk Connection.
- The (en)forced mobility group met twice in 2021:
- In February 2021, to look at the situation of artists in exile, who have been made even more precarious by Covid. Under the initiative of OTM member, Touring Artists. Invited organisation: Martin Roth Initiative.
- In November 2021, under the initiative of Alba Kultur to discuss initiatives, forms of (collective) action and advocacy related to the situation of Afghan artists.
- For activities during 2022–2024, see the Perspective Report 2022, the Perspective Report 2023, and the Perspective Report 2024, which collect details on the activities of all On the Move’s working groups.
- A research and action project, which focuses on the situation of at-risk and displaced artists, with the publications:
- Intersecting Temporalities: At-Risk and Displaced Artists in Transition (Volume 1: Scoping Review)
- Policy and Practice in the EU: Pathways, Impediments and Patchwork Solutions (Volume 2 Cultural Policy Analysis)
- The Situation of At-risk and Displaced Artists and Culture Professionals (Volume 3: Case Studies)
Other resources
- A Safety Guide for Artists, produced by Artists at Risk
- Publications, Projects and Mapping Studies Related to Refugees and Migrants
Photograph: Mohammed Abakar. Taken as part of a project in Lesbos in collaboration with Mathieu Perot on Lesbos Island. Mohammed Abakar is a member of the Atelier des Artistes in Exil in Paris.