A ballerina balances en pointe on the extended arm of a male dancer during a 2024 performance by the Guangzhou Acrobatic Troupe at the Sino-Hellenic International Theater Festival, symbolizing the strength and trust of artists lifting each other across disciplines.
THE MUSICIANS OF BREMEN KNEW SOMETHING WE FORGOT
How Artists Build Power Together
Turning Allegory into Action
The donkey, dog, cat, and rooster literally held each other up. How does that look in the real world for contemporary artists?
Real Examples of Cross-Disciplinary Solidarity
Visual artists stand with writers
Artists have long defended writers when creative expression is under threat.
During the Vietnam War, the Artists and Writers Protest united muralists, poets, and performers to amplify politically charged literature, stage exhibitions, and publish full-page ads urging public engagement.
Image: Carol Summers’ Kill for Peace (1967) fuses bold graphic design with antiwar protest, created for the Artists and Writers Protest Against the War in Viet Nam. Screenprint and photo-screenprint on board. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © Estate of Carol Summers. Reproduced under fair use for educational discussion of visual resistance.
Artists unite across disciplines
Fall of Freedom (2025) brings together leading creators—including playwright Lynn Nottage, visual artists Robert Longo and Dread Scott, novelist Hari Kunzru, and musician Amanda Palmer—for a nationwide wave of creative resistance.
Beginning November 21–22, 2025, galleries, theaters, museums, comedy clubs, and concert halls will simultaneously host events, offering tools and platforms for participation. The initiative shows how established artists can turn visibility into infrastructure, enabling collective action that defends creative freedom and democratic values.
National coalitions defend the arts
UK’s Creative Rights Alliance has mobilized artists across film, music, dance, and visual arts to oppose restrictive legislation.
By coordinating across mediums, they created a force larger than any single discipline could achieve—proof of the power of collective, cross-disciplinary advocacy.
Actionable Steps
- Amplify Across Disciplines: Share exhibitions, performances, and publications outside your immediate field.
- Defend Publicly: Raise your voice when someone threatens an artist of a different arts discipline. Visibility matters.
- Share Resources: Space, networks, or audiences — your access can lift another’s work.
- Recognize Shared Threats: Silencing one silences all. Unite in advocacy.
Takeaway
Cross-disciplinary solidarity transforms individual vulnerability into collective power. Stand on each other’s backs. Lift others. Make a noise too loud to ignore.
Randall White
Abbetuck
Next in this series:
- They Never Reached Bremen: Finding Home When the Institutions Fail →
First in this series:
- Artistic Solidarity: The Musicians of Bremen Knew Something We Forgot →
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