Written by Tasmia Ishma The spirit of my homeland - its aspirations and its turmoil - remains etched in my identity. As a Bengali immigrant who left at the age of six, I have always felt deeply connected to my roots, witnessing the power of youth in advocating for change and the harsh realities of censorship that often stifle those [...]
(Left) Samia Halaby, Six Golden Heroes, 2021 & (Right) Alia Farid, Piquete en el Capitolo, 2023 In a troubling series of events at Michigan State University's Broad Art Museum, multiple censorship reports have raised serious concerns about the suppression of artistic freedom. Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship, alongside the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, ACLU of Michigan, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is proud to join forces with 58 civil rights organizations, LGBTQ+ advocates, and free speech organizations in opposing harmful legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). For 50 years, NCAC has fought for the right to access uncensored information, and KOSA threatens to undermine that core freedom. KOSA risks silencing crucial online [...]
Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) have reintroduced a vital resolution condemning the surge in book bans across schools, libraries, and universities nationwide. As we celebrate Banned Books Week, this resolution upholds the First Amendment rights of students and affirms that the freedom to read is essential for a healthy democracy. Over 10,000 books have been banned [...]
Danielle SeeWalker, Buffalo Run, 2023. Mural commissioned for the Brown International Academy in Denver, CO. Arts & Culture Advocacy Program: A couple of months ago, news outlets reported on the cancellation of your artist residency with Art in Public Places in Vail, Colorado. How did the residency first come about? Danielle SeeWalker: In January of this year I [...]
Since its founding in 2003, Woodhull Freedom Foundation has been an unwavering champion of free speech, recognizing it as the cornerstone of our fundamental human right to sexual freedom. As a human rights organization, we have consistently stood at the forefront of the battle against censorship, particularly in defense of sexual expression, which has long been a primary target [...]
Award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay has been named honorary chair for Banned Books Week 2024, which takes place September 22 – 28. DuVerney will be joined by youth honorary chair Julia Garnett, a student activist who fought book bans in her home state of Tennessee. "I believe that censorship is the enemy of freedom,” said DuVernay, honorary chair of Banned [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board of Brevard Public Schools in Florida after they voted to remove Shō Harusono's Sasaki and Miyano Vol. 1 from school libraries contrary to the Book Review Committee's recommendation to retain it. NCAC is concerned that the board may have acted due to hostility towards the views expressed in the [...]
UPDATE - August 15, 2024: Following advocacy efforts and community concern, the Lubbock city council considered whether to fully reinstate the funding without any restrictions. In the final vote, the City Council approved a greatly reduced grant of $5,000 for security at FFAT. The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) expressed disappointment, but assured its commitment to [...]
Image caption: Danielle SeeWalker, G is for Genocide, 2024 In May, NCAC was alarmed to learn about the Town of Vail, Colorado’s decision to cancel Danielle SeeWalker’s artist residency with the town’s Art in Public Places Program. The residency was to include the commission of a new mural, a photo exhibition of existing work depicting contemporary [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Board of the School District of Indian River County after they removed Alan Gratz’s Ban This Book from school libraries despite a review committee's recommendation to retain the book. NCAC expressed concern that the Board may have removed this book due to disagreement with the views expressed within the material. Therefore, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) announces the launch of a new resource, Art Censorship Index: Post-October 7th, documenting the recent spike in censorship of art and artists invoking Israel or Palestine. Artworks and artists referencing the subject of Israel and Palestine have long been subjects of controversy and/or censorship, but following the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and [...]
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore Today the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), PEN America, and the ACLU of Florida (ACLU-FL) condemned Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s veto of the entirety of the state’s annual arts budget, because the governor stated the decision was based on his distaste for certain types of artistic expression. In particular, the governor [...]
Dani Collette and Allora McCullough, Planting Seeds, Sprouting Hope, 2024, Installation view. Today the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) expressed alarm at the cancellation of an exhibition at Craft Alliance, an art organization in St. Louis, MO. Following a complaint from a volunteer, the venue asserted that the project, which draws attention to the plight [...]
As part of the NCAC’s 50th anniversary, we are taking time to reflect on our achievements, how far we’ve come since our establishment in 1974, and the future ahead. We are also spotlighting those who stand with us in our coalition, such as the Children’s Book Council. Over the past 70 years, the CBC has developed from an organization [...]
Photo Credit: Ted Eytan https://www.tedeytan.com/2018/03/02/25277 The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) raised objections today regarding recent announcements by the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Minneapolis Museum of Art, and the Joslyn Art Museum to postpone or cancel planned exhibitions featuring work by renowned American artist Kehinde Wiley. In recent weeks the artist’s behavior and moral integrity [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the board of Greenville County Schools in South Carolina regarding the removal of Ellen Hopkins' Perfect and Tilt and Sarah J. Maas' Empire of Storms from high school libraries. The review committee evaluated these books and concluded that they should remain in the library. The school board, however, overruled the recommendations [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Cameron School District in Missouri after school administrators reviewed a dozen school library books and then restricted some of them. NCAC recommended changes to the district's policy to include a diverse review committee for adjudicating future book challenges. Read NCAC's full letter to the Cameron School District here:Click here for [...]
In March 2023, a month after installing his artwork Monumental Interventions in a temporary exhibition at the San Diego Airport, Evan Apodaca received a letter from airport authorities informing him that the airport was terminating its contract with the artist and removing his work from view. Publicly, the airport stated that Apodaca’s then-final iteration of the project [...]
Today, along with eleven other free expression groups, NCAC issued a letter to two congressional committees regarding their request to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) of twenty groups that the committees alleged had supported or funded recent college protests. NCAC's deep concern stems from both the breadth of the committees' requests for records (20 organizations, without [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board to urge Rutherford County Schools in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to return over 18 books removed from school libraries, considered to be obscene under Tennessee law. We advise that all challenged books be reviewed using standard policy that requires adjudication by a committee of diverse stakeholders. Read NCAC's full letter [...]
When political passions run high, disagreement is often expressed as vocal protest. Cultural institutions in a democratic society need to be prepared to manage such protests without silencing the voices they target. Instead, vague “safety concerns” are used to justify the suppression of speech within US cultural and educational institutions with alarming frequency. On April 15th, the Provost and [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Roane County School District Board of Education in Kingston, Tennessee to recommend changes to their board policy. After almost 200 challenged books were temporarily removed, NCAC encouraged the district to revise their policy to allow challenge books to remain on shelves during the reconsideration process. Read NCAC's full letter to [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship urges the school administrators of PS 55, The Henry M. Boehm School in Staten Island, NY, to follow NY DOE policy and return these discarded books back to shelves and uphold the First Amendment values of free inquiry and free access to information. Read NCAC's full letter to PS 55 here: Click here for a [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) raised concerns today that Artspace, the nation’s leading developer of arts facilities, has repeatedly censored artworks presented on their properties. Since 2017, NCAC has been made aware of three incidents resulting in the removal of arts displays, as well as the 2023 ousting of an artist subtenant as punishment for an exhibition of [...]
UPDATE - July 10, 2024: Following NCAC’s advocacy efforts, Public Art UHS completed the installation of Shahzia Sikander’s exhibition, Havah… to breathe, air, life and revised its FAQ document to include more information about the work from the artist. Months following the installation of the exhibition, Sikander’s sculpture, titled Witness, was beheaded by an unidentified vandal. The artist has requested [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board of St. Johns County School District in St. Augustine, Florida to express our concern that the district is not following their policy when conducting reviews of books with sexual content. Read NCAC's full letter to the St. Johns County School District here: Click here for a full-screen view: [...]
National arts and civil rights organizations expressed deep concern today over the extent to which cultural institutions are halting the development of programs that can be interpreted as relating to the conflict in Israel and Palestine. A rash of cancellations over the past few months has affected cultural programs and exhibitions that contain references to the conflict or that [...]
In a key legal filing last month, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), in collaboration with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and other free speech organizations, took a bold step in the ongoing battle for free speech. Together, they filed an Amicus Brief with the Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri, challenging government overreach and defending the [...]
Recent news reports have surfaced, revealing attempts by the Biden administration to pressure Amazon to censor controversial anti-vaccine books and search results. According to the reports, representatives of the Biden administration have urged Amazon executives to take action against books that the administration has deemed to contain misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and vaccines. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) condemns [...]
Just two months before the long-planned February opening of Samia Halaby’s art retrospective, Indiana University (IU) abruptly canceled the show, citing vague concerns “about guaranteeing the integrity of the exhibit.” But the concerns had nothing to do with Halaby’s colorful abstractions. The last time abstract works were controversial in the United States was during the McCarthy era, when Congressman [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to the Rockingham County School Board to protest their decision to temporarily remove 57 books from school libraries without following district’s policy for challenges and review. NCAC urges the Board to return the books to library shelves pending a formal review from a review committee. Read NCAC's full letter to [...]
I will continue to speak out on the freedom to read and write for kids of all ages, no matter what the perils have been for the creators of children’s books and the perils that are continuing to occur at an alarming and even faster pace than in the past few years. Even though my own safety and so [...]
Today, NCAC issued a letter of concern to the leadership of Indiana University, imploring the university to reverse its December 2023 decision to cancel the upcoming retrospective exhibition of renowned Palestinian-American abstract painter, Samia Halaby. “Samia Halaby: Centers of Energy” was to open in February at the university’s Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art and feature more than [...]
Update - According to media reports, the Elkhorn school board has returned all 444 books to library circulation. However, some of the challenged books were restricted or moved to different libraries. The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the Elkhorn Area School District in Wisconsin to recommend policy improvements after a local parent challenged 444 library books, which were [...]
The Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District in Grimes, Iowa has removed 73 books from school libraries in an attempt to comply with Iowa Senate File 496, which prohibits school libraries from having any materials with "descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act." The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the school board to urge them to improve their [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) raised concerns today regarding the censorship of an exhibition at the Greek Consulate in New York. An artwork by New York-based artist Georgia Lale was removed on the order of Greece’s Foreign Minister, George Gerapetritis. Political criticism of one of Lale’s works grew following the exhibition’s opening last week, when the leader of the [...]
NEW YORK – The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), in collaboration with five prominent organizations, including Electronic Frontier Foundation, Woodhull Freedom Foundation, Authors Alliance, Fight for The Future, and First Amendment Coalition, have filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down laws in Florida and Texas that empower states to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of [...]
In November, the district administration of Hanover County Public Schools in Virginia improperly ordered 75 books be removed from school libraries. The National Coalition Against Censorship has written a letter to the school board to urge them to rescind the order and to evaluate any challenged books using the proper criteria. Read NCAC's full letter to the Hanover County Public [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship has written to the North Syracuse Central School District in New York to encourage them to amend their policies. The suggested revisions will allow access to challenged materials to remain unrestricted during the review process. Read NCAC's full letter to the North Syracuse Central School District here: Click here for a full-screen view: [...]
