In November 2024, On the Move embarked on a research-action initiative dedicated to the situation of at-risk and displaced artists and culture professionals. The overarching aim of this project was to identify policies and practices across Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America that provide both immediate and longer-term support, accessibility, and professional continuity for displaced artists and cultural practitioners. This analysis enabled the mapping of existing support schemes, the identification of success factors and structural gaps, and the development of recommendations to help support organisations and institutions strengthen monitoring mechanisms, share innovative responses, and adapt policies and programmes where necessary.
In its fourth and final volume that is articulated around 4 publications, On the Move presents a set of proposed instruments – whether newly designed, replicated, upscaled, or adapted – aimed at strengthening support for at-risk and displaced artists and cultural practitioners. Co-designed with relocated artists, researchers, and cultural stakeholders, this volume sets out operational recommendations, identifies avenues for the development of existing support schemes, and lays the groundwork for the establishment of new mechanisms.
With this Discussion Starter, our intention is to offer a document that aims to help civil society organisations shape their thinking on what a UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Artists and Cultural Practitioners could look like, and to encourage international institutions to seize the current momentum to develop such an instrument.
Conceived in two parts, the publication first sets out a rationale that recapitulates the needs, the progress made, and the arguments in favour of a Plan, while mapping the elements of a favourable legal framework within which such an instrument could sit. It then presents a draft zero, modelled directly on the existing UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
The UNESCO report Defending Creative Voices called on civil society organisations (CSOs) to continue advocating for the protection of artists and cultural professionals at risk. Alongside the many other CSOs that have been paving the way for years, we gladly take up that invitation, joining the growing cohort of initiatives and contributing our own building block to the pathway ahead.
This Discussion Starter is intended to help host conversations with CSOs, consult stakeholders, sustain momentum, and contribute to shaping the instruments that must come to light and be implemented globally. Above all, it is meant to underscore just how vital, fundamental, and urgent it is to act.
We warmly invite you to join one of the two information sessions hosted by Silja Fischer (International Music Council). These sessions will give you the opportunity to delve deeper into the document and discuss it, as well as contribute to the upcoming advocacy process.
Dates of information sessions:
- Option 1: Monday 16 November 2026, 10.00-11.00 CET > Register Here
- Option 2: Tuesday 17 November 2026, 16.00-17.00 CET > Register Here
