Defending Each Other in the USA

Defending Each Other in the USA: Stepping Up - Strategies for Active Solidarity with Artists Impacted by Forced Displacement in the United States

As a summary and collective call to action Defending Each Other in the USA is a ‘whitepaper’ distillation of the ideas that were shared during the ArtsLink Assembly 2025 at La MaMa in New York. Mary Ann DeVlieg draws on her immense experience in fostering culture networks and actively supporting artists impacted by forced displacement, making a compelling and urgent case for artists, culture organizations, arts funders and civil society to work together. This is not a ‘blueprint’ to follow, but rather a clear exposition of the current challenges to the cultural field, and the critical questions we must ask ourselves, while finding the answers together.

''I somewhat reluctantly accepted the task from On the Move and CEC Artslink to propose a ‘blueprint’ for such a solidarity initiative in the USA. Reluctant, that is until the Artslink Assembly in New York in November 2025. There I witnessed a welcome wave of engagement, interest, and genuine concern by and for artists impacted by displacement in the USA. My ‘blueprint’ became a provocation, a reflection and a challenge. It is a call for artists, arts organizations and other pertinent players to work together to claim back what the arts represents and what is currently threatened: a mutually supportive society where artists bring the multifaceted perspectives necessary to its continued creative and democratic development.’'

Mary Ann DeVlieg

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Mary Ann DeVlieg is an independent consultant, evaluator, facilitator and speaker, and an Expert for the Council of Europe’s initiative on artistic freedom: Free to Create/Create to be Free. Since 2010 she protected and defended the human rights of artists-at-risk as a case worker. She founded the EU working group, Arts-Rights-Justice; was freeDimensional’s Co-Director (2013-2015) and a co-founder of the Arts-Rights-Justice Academy, University of Hildesheim. Former Secretary General of IETM (1994-2013), the international network for contemporary performing arts. She founded On the Move and Roberto Cimetta Fund for Mobility in the Mediterranean, is currently a Board member of Ettijahat-Independent Culture and of SH|FT Safe Havens Freedom Talks. Her PhD examined the rights of relocated artists in the EU cultural policy and practice landscape.