Artists at Risk (AR)

ARTISTS at RISK (AR), is a non-profit organisation active at the intersection of human rights and the arts. Since 2013, PM has developed AR to become a mondial network of artistic institutions, non-profits, municipalities, state institutions and international organisations to assist, relocate and fund artists who are at risk of persecution or oppression, or are fleeing war or terror. Artists at Risk (AR) has become known as the “go-to” institution for artists and cultural professionals at risk. Since inception, AR has co-hosted and funded over 1,100 artists and cultural professionals (without counting family and dependents) at 302 partner institutions globally. The Helsinki-based AR-Secretariat coordinated the online efforts of the global AR-Team. Throughout its more than 10 years of activity, Artists at Risk (AR) has assisted persecuted, threatened or imprisoned artists of all kinds, both unknown and of worldwide renown. Among the prominent figures AR has assisted, one might mention the founders of Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova, the Somali pop-star Lil Balil, the Vietnamese dissident Mai Khoi and the Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy. In 2019, Ecologists at Risk (ER) was launched as an at-risk-residency platform at the intersection of ecology and culture. ER supports eco-defenders at high risk, whose life and/or work is to sustain, protect or defend natural ecosystems through their cultural or artistic practices. Artists at Risk (AR)’s umbrella organisation, Perpetuum Mobile (PM) curates events, conferences and the dedicated Artists at Risk (AR) Pavilion which showcases the artistic practices of AR-Residents.