Denise Fahmy
director, Freedom in the Arts

Denise Fahmy has 30 years’ experience in arts administration. Denise is a visual arts specialist and worked for Arts Council England for 15 years. In June 2023 an Employment Tribunal found that Denise’s claim of harassment, that she’d experienced at work relating to her gender critical belief, was well-founded. Her legal costs were met by 1,284 well-wishers through a Crowd Justice campaign. Together with choreographer Rosie Kay, Denise has founded Freedom in the Arts, responding to the emergency in the cultural sector in which censorship now has a foothold.

Artists are afraid to express their legal views. Leaders are bullied into public apologies. Audiences are hectored at. Freedom in the Arts protects artists, currently threatened by cancellation, and will hold institutions to account to protect freedom of speech and expression.

Follow Denise on X/Twitter: @DeniseFahmy

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