Over 500 artists and nearly 200 institutions have signed a statement affirming their support for artistic freedom and decrying government censorship. 

Among the 531 artists who signed the statement are playwrights Heidi Schreck and Jackie Sibblies Drury, actors Kathleen Chalfant and David Greenspan, Playwrights Horizons artistic director Adam Greenfield, composer Adam Gwon, and more. The 194 institutions that have signed on include Off-Broadway's Public Theater and the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Overall, the signatories encompass the fields of theatre, visual arts, and educational institutions.

Though it didn't name him explicitly, the statement alluded to President's Trump attempt to control artistic institutions, saying, "Exercising programmatic autonomy is essential to preserving institutional purpose and resilience in the face of ideological pressure. If institutions don’t live up to this mandate, they risk becoming instruments of propaganda and subject to the whims of those temporarily in power."

In the statement, signatories vowed to "remain true to our democratic responsibility to act as guardians of artistic freedom and independent thought," "affirm the independence of our programming in service to our mission and commit to resisting external pressures," and "stand with fellow institutions facing political pressure and remain a field united by shared values and principles."

The complete statement can be read here. The statement is a collaboration between the National Coalition Against Censorship and the New School's Vera List Center of Art and Politics.

Ever since his return to office, President Trump has taken bigger steps to control the arts in the United States. He took over as board chair of the Kennedy Center in February, fired longtime staff members, and vowed to get rid of any programming he deems as "woke." 

Under the Trump Administration, the National Endowment for the Arts has also begun requiring artists who apply for their federally funded grants affirm that they are not promoting "diversity, equity, and inclusion." It has also revoked grants that had been previously promised to theatres around the country. Trump has been clear about his intention to dismantle the NEA.

Last week, the White House released a list of artworks currently on display at the Smithsonian Institute's 21 museums that it found objectionable—the Smithsonian receives federal funding. Among the works on the list is a display of “animated Latinos and Latinas with disabilities," the dance performance El Muro by Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company, an LGBTQ+ History exhibit, and the Amy Sherald painting "Trans Forming Liberty" (Sherald then cancelled her National Portrait Gallery show). "When a government starts deciding which stories museums can tell, it is not protecting history. It is rewriting it," wrote Sherald in an op-ed.