Dozens of prominent artists and cultural organizations have signed on to participate in a series of artistic demonstrations aimed to protest what they see as authoritarian overreach by the Trump administration and its allies.
The protests, known collectively as Fall of Freedom, will take place on the weekend of Nov. 21. Organizers, including the visual artist Dread Scott and the playwright Lynn Nottage, describe the effort as “an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation.”
Planners have intentionally provided only loose guidelines to participate, suggesting, for example, that museums might highlight artwork in their collection that explores censorship and that bookstores might organize drag queen story hours or showcase banned books.
The protests will amount to a “nationwide wave of creative resistance” designed to “celebrate the experiences, cultures and identities that shape the fabric of our nation,” according to the group’s mission statement.
Many organizations — including galleries, theaters and comedy clubs — are expected to devise their own events. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles will host a “Wear Your Rights” silk-screening workshop on Nov. 21, while the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York plans to transform one of its galleries into a library of books underscoring the history of pushback by queer artists against censorship and discrimination.
Other participants will include the artists Marilyn Minter and Robert Longo, the filmmakers Ava DuVernay and Michael Moore, the writer Jennifer Egan and the musician Amanda Palmer, as well as cultural organizations like the Brooklyn Public Library, Dallas Contemporary and the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company in Washington, D.C.
“The action is artistic expression,” Nottage said. “Expression is one of the essential ingredients in the American narrative, and it can’t be stymied or silenced.”
Egan said President Trump’s polices had left her “stunned,” adding, “I welcome this spur to act alongside other artists and insist on our right to think and speak freely.”
Planning for the national action began less than a month ago, when Scott convened a group that included Nottage and the curator Laura Raicovich. The group envisioned Fall of Freedom as the art world’s first nationwide response to the Trump administration’s efforts to influence cultural life in America, which have included demanding oversight of the Smithsonian and purging the board at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts of Biden appointees. Trump also installed himself as chairman of the center.
“It is really important for us as storytellers to be heard,” said Nottage, who has won the Pulitzer Prize for drama twice.
The Kennedy Center was considering staging one of her musicals, she said, but when the Trump administration changed the leadership there, her team decided not to pursue the engagement. Nottage said those changes and other actions by the Trump administration had made clear to artists that they must abide by the White House’s views of U.S. history and cultural life. (In March, for instance, Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” claiming that the Smithsonian had “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.”)
“Unless you adhere to a certain kind of narrative,” Nottage said, “you are not going to receive support.”
Representatives for the Kennedy Center and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Asuka Hisa, the director of learning and engagement at the ICA Los Angeles, likened Fall of Freedom to the No Kings protests against the Trump administration that took place in cities like New York and Chicago and in rural communities in June.
“This is not your usual march in the streets,” Hisa said. “It’s protest in the form of engagement with arts, culture and the contemporary issues of our time.” Participants in her museum’s silk-screening workshop, she said, would be invited to print the Fifth Amendment, which includes the right to due process, onto their clothing.
Scott, one of the country’s most influential artist-activists, who in 1990 helped overturn a federal law banning the burning of the American flag, said that Fall of Freedom should be seen not just as a protest but also as a chance for people to recognize the importance of artistic expression.
“We are not only giving people permission to be punk, but we are encouraging rebellion,” he said. “If you want to phrase that as punk, I would say, ‘Guilty as charged.’”
Raicovich, who resigned as director of the Queens Museum in 2018 after a disagreement with its board about an event featuring Mike Pence, then the vice president, that was sponsored by the Israeli government, said she hoped Fall of Freedom would build solidarity among artists from different backgrounds.
“As we hope to convey with this project,” she said, “art matters and courage is contagious.”
Zachary Small is a Times reporter writing about the art world’s relationship to money, politics and technology.
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