Freemuse receives funding from Roskilde Festival

The funding is as a result of a three-year partnership programme called the Artistic Freedom Defenders Network (AFDN).

According to the festival's official website, the funding will enable Freemuse to continue monitoring artistic rights infringements around the world.

"Everyone should have the right to express oneself creatively and artistically. But we know this isn't the case," Roskilde's website reads.

"It's a fundamental human right, and yet it's challenged in many countries. Roskilde Festival believes in communities, and we believe in the role of art in the community. Art and music create communities, move people, show new ways."

In March 2019, Freemuse reported that 673 cases of artistic freedom violations in 80 countries were registered last year.

The AFDN seeks to unite and facilitate meaningful dialogue between actors in the most violated art forms so they can understand the scale and depth of the challenges before them.

"It's about solidarity between artists and solidarity with artists who don't have the same options to express themselves freely as many others enjoy," Roskilde Festival said.

This year's edition of Roskilde Festival also saw the two organisations launch and exhibit a concept book titled Without Artistic Freedom This Is Just a Notebook, which contains a variety of censored works of art.

This latest development comes a month after Freemuse released the Privatising Censorship, Digitising Violence: Shrinking Space of Women’s Rights to Create in the Digital Age report.

The findings in the report were based on interviews with 16 female artists who have experienced censorship and/or online harassment.