The European cultural initiative Artists at Risk (AR) – at the intersection of human rights and the arts – launched an emergency fund to support artists who face threats to their freedom or lives and are unable to reach a country of safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As well as other professions, artists who don’t depend from one and the same organization are currently struggling severely with present and future perspectives. But for artists who are, in normal times, facing threats and dangers because of their countries’ regimes are going through even harder moments right now. They can’t isolate, nor escape.

Artists who speak truth to power need your help. If they’re unlucky enough to live under a repressive regime, they may face harassment, imprisonment or even death – just for creating work that challenges the powerful or pushes the boundaries of the culture they live in.

With the spread of coronavirus and the closure of borders, they’re now unable to reach safety in another country.

That’s why the artists’ advocacy organisation Artists at Risk (AR) has launched an emergency fundraising appeal to support artists currently facing this double threat to their safety and freedom.

With your generous support we will be able to provide vital assistance to artists who already face persecution or imprisonment simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression, and who are now unable to leave their countries and find refuge.

They need your help!

Your help will allow ARTISTS at RISK to get artists to safety within their own country or region by enabling us to give them financial assistance to survive and continue their work.

You can Support Them!

Artists at Risk (AR) has a great track record of helping artists. They have created 17 residencies across 14 countries, including Spain, Finland, Germany and Tunisia, offering temporary AR safe haven residencies for artists at risk. Launched in 2013, the programme has assisted artists from Brazil, Syria, Vietnam, Egypt and Kenya, among other countries.

ARTISTS at RISK (AR) is a non-profit organisation at the intersection of human rights and the arts. AR is dedicated to mapping the field of persecuted art practitioners and facilitating their safe passage from their countries of origin, hosting them at residencies and curating related projects. Perpetuum Mobile (PM) initiated Artists at Risk (AR) in 2013 as a platform and network to support artists in securing travel documents, providing legal assistance and creating AR-Safe Haven Residencies. The European Parliament honoured Perpetuum Mobile (PM) for its Artists at Risk (AR) programme with the CIVI EUROPAEO PRAEMIUM (the European Citizen’s Prize) in 2016.​