Arts celebrities lead freedom protest

A national protest is gaining prominent support following the Federal Government's decision to divert arts funding from the Australia Council to the Ministry.
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A dance protest under the banner #FreetheArts will be held in all capital cities at 1.30pm on Friday.

As of Tuesday morning, more than 4,000 people had also signed a petition for artistic freedom.

The public face of the petition is a list of high-profile arts and human rights personalities including Julian Burnside AO QC, Joanna Murray-Smith, William Yang, Shaun Tan, Robert Manne, Thomas Keneally, JM Coetzee, Hannah Kent, Ramona Koval, Nakkiah Lui, Marieke Hardy, Christos Tsiolkas, Judy Watson, Frank Moorhouse, Hannie Rayson, and Gideon Obarzanek.

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Deborah Stone
About the Author
Deborah Stone is a Melbourne journalist and communications professional. She is a former Editor of ArtsHub and a former Fairfax feature writer.