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A network of Jewish artists, writers, and culture workers is urging Arts Council England (ACE) to “ensure action on antisemitism is taken seriously and meaningfully, and not used as cover for silencing Palestinian voices”.
Released today, as ACE chief executive Darren Henley vowed to “act” and “step up” on anti-Jewish hatred, Jewish Artists for Palestine’s letter calls for the “pursuit of racial justice for all racialised groups”.
It comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer instructed ACE and other public funders to ensure they are actively looking to “claw back” cash from projects platforming antisemitism.
In his speech on 5 May, Starmer said Britain must “expect more” from its cultural venues when it comes to combatting antisemitic sentiment.
Recent reports show hate incidents targeting Jewish people are on the rise in the UK.
But in a letter shared with Arts Professional, Jewish Artists for Palestine accused Starmer of a “wrongheaded and opportunistic attempt to interfere with Arts Council funding and silence the Palestine liberation movement, in the wake of the rise in antisemitic attacks”.
‘Jewish people in the UK right now are scared’
Jewish Artists for Palestine launched last year. The campaign group’s website names goals including “Palestinian liberation”, “fighting censorship and anti-Palestinian racism”, and “challenging institutions complicit in genocide and apartheid”.
It has staged protests including a disruption at last year’s BBC Proms and claims to represent the interests of some 200 artists, creatives, cultural sector workers, and writers.
The network’s open letter, addressed to ACE, accuses the Prime Minister of politicising antisemitism, saying: “Jewish people in the UK right now are scared. And to cynically take advantage of this fear and fan its flames is reprehensible and dangerous.
“We believe the UK is, on the whole, safe for Jewish people and we mustn’t let the very real, frightening and unsettling rise in antisemitic violence be used as a political football.”
Despite recent reports finding a “marked increase” in antisemitism within the UK arts sector, Jewish Artists for Palestine maintains the number of such instances is “miniscule”, and lists a slate of recent major productions spotlighting Jewish identity, including Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s Fiddler on the Roof and the Broadway transfer of Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant.
“We implore ACE and the wider arts sector to consult a diversity of Jewish perspectives so as to ensure action on antisemitism is taken seriously and meaningfully, and not used as cover for silencing Palestinian voices or those standing in solidarity with Palestine,” the letter continues.
The group calls for ACE to “consult with Palestinian cultural groups concerning the censorship of Palestinian arts, speech, forms of cultural expression”.
The letter is released the same day that ACE boss Henley committed to conversing with Jewish leaders, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and colleagues from “across the sector” to “hear their experiences and needs”.
“Since its foundation [ACE] has championed artists’ rights to give voice to difficult truths,” Henley wrote, in a blog posted to the Arts Council website.
“It is critical to recognise, however, that free speech does not include hate speech, and that artists and cultural organisations must balance the essential work of upholding freedom of expression with the equally crucial work of ensuring communities and individuals feel included.”
He invited people from across the arts who wished to join the conversation to “reach out” to the public body, and concluded: “Jewish artists and cultural organisations are telling us that we have not done enough. We must hear them. We must act. We must step up.”
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