November 5, 1999
Citywide
Image courtesy of Creative Time

Confronted by increasing political interference with artists and audiences, a group of individuals from the art community gathered together in October 1999 to form the advocacy organization F.R.E.D. Working in conjunction with Creative Time, advocate Peter Vallone hosted a town hall meeting designed to apply pressure on the New York City Council to protect open dialogue and art. In response to Mayor Giuliani’s attempt to suspend funding from the Brooklyn Museum of Art over the exhibition Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, Vallone stated, “Art is a dialogue, conservatives and liberals can agree on that.”

The United States Supreme Court has established that government cannot disfavor or penalize cultural institutions or individual artists based on the viewpoints expressed in their work, although post-9/11 the art institutions and artists themselves are once again fighting for freedom from censorship and adequate funding.