How Ideologues Infiltrated the Arts
Testimonials that lay bare what’s happening across the arts. “Artists nationwide say they’re being put to an ideological litmus test. ‘It felt like somebody holding a gun to my head saying: your integrity or your life’s work.’” From not posting a black square on social media during the Black Lives Matter protests to resisting racial segregation efforts, artists who resisted were punished. A celebrated LA–based choreographer. A NYC theater director with 25 years industry experience A sign language interpreter. A NYC music and choir director. “I spoke to more than a dozen people working in dance, music, theater, and the visual arts. Some have won Pulitzer prizes. Others are just at the beginning of their careers. What they all have in common is a concern that DEI—short for diversity, equity, and inclusion…is creeping into the arts and politicizing artistic expression.”
“The arts were becoming a tool of an ideology,” one artist explained. “It felt like something sacred was being violated by crossing politics and art—almost like crossing church and state.”
Related:
Cancel Culture Comes For Ballet: Choreographer Lincoln Jones’s Problematic Journey (Unspeakable Podcast, 3/13/23)
