As political pressures mount across Europe—from budget cuts and censorship to the dismissal of outspoken cultural leaders—artists and institutions are mobilising.
In this timely conversation, ETC Executive Director Heidi Wiley speaks with Milo Rau, Director, Author and Artistic Director of Wiener Festwochen, about the urgent need for unified resistance in the face of escalating threats to cultural autonomy.
Their dialogue traces the origins and ambitions of RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER, a global movement aimed at safeguarding artistic freedom and resisting nationalism.
Video: Özgül Demiralp, ETC Digital Communication Officer
Heidi Wiley: Across Europe, we see rising political interference, threats to autonomy and even direct attacks on cultural spaces and their leaders. Already back in November 2024, when we met at our last ETC Conference at Théâtre de Liège, the alarm bells were loud and very clear. Theatre directors are dismissed, there are massive cuts on budgets, to silence independent and minority voices. Performances are laid off. Why is it more critical than ever for artists and cultural institutions to resist?
Milo Rau: I mean, I don't think it's more dangerous than, for example, in the 30s. I mean, we are still living in a kind of institutional democracy. But I think in the last ten years, almost half of the Member States of the European Union shifted to an extreme right-wing politics and especially cultural politics. I think the first time in my lifetime at least, I saw an institution being touched because of obviously and explicitly political reasons. I think ten years ago, they were still talking about budget cuts and some neoliberal ideas of “does it really pay off, should we continue to support an elitist whatever theatre institutions.”
And I think today it became very explicit in Hungary, of course, in Russia and in Slovakia, that's how the whole campaign started, that people were dismissed because they were speaking out. And I think in this moment, it's super dangerous to kind of convince yourself that you would self-censor or that you would stay or try to stay under the radar, because I think in the end you die anyway. And so it's better to resist and especially to connect with all the other people that resist, because then you find the hope and I think that’s the beautiful thing of the first part of our campaign that you are many.
Heidi Wiley: Exactly, and you are obviously an artist, a person who speaks out very openly, also about the political responsibility of the art. You touched upon this already, today, in 2025. how do you see it, is there like a climate, a turning point, where we also redefine or need to re-position theatre in society, our role?
Milo Rau: I think absolutely. I think first of all, because theatre is a publicly-funded art perhaps different from plastic arts, which is more or less private, besides museums. But I think that, for example, here we are in a space [Schaubühne] that is publicly funded and it takes money what we do here, so we are a kind of public servant, I think. That’s why it’s so important that we defend it and that we are political in this space. I think on the other hand, the idea of cutting down the arts, and I think there were many surveys, is economically completely nonsense.
And that’s why it was not done in the last 20, 30 years, neoliberalism never touched the arts. It invested more and more in the arts because it's a kind of multiplier in the field. So €1 in the arts is like €7 of outcome, much more than all the other sectors. And that's why it was not touched. So when it's touched, you immediately know that it is for political reasons. And on the other hand, I have to say, it's okay. Why would the right-wing not I don't know, aggress let's say the sectors that they feel are liberal, are political, but if they are attacked, you can feel that you are leaving a turning point into society.
And it's really about going the symbolic value, Who are we, who is represented and how do we want to continue? What is the heritage of the future, for example? So we can’t only show the operas from the past, what do we create today and how many do we invest as a society, who will remember later that we were in the beginning of 21st century? That’s why it's so important that we resist. And again, I think it's not the first time that we have to resist. We had to resist, of course, in the 30s, in the 40s, again in the 50s against conservatism, then it was neo-liberalism, and of course now we have a whole new climate. We have the Trumpism, the the situation is completely changing. Not only in Europe. And, and of course, now is a moment when I feel the need to connect.
Heidi Wiley: Absolutely. And we've seen it rising already last year. And that's when we joined forces after our conference in Liège, when we realised, well, we are doing so many things in parallel for the same purpose in resisting now, in raising our voices on what's happening, in banning performances in dismissing theatre directors, in trying to censor ourselves. So ‘Resistance Now: Free Culture’ was born. And I think it was a fantastic success in how fast we were able to connect with over, 200 theatre directors of leading cultural institutions across Europe and, over 30 countries, to send an open letter to the members of the European Parliament asking for a new law that protects artistic freedom and also the autonomy of the cultural institutions in Europe in asking to enact a “European Culture Freedom Act.’ similar to what happened in media.
And ever since, also time accelerates or events accelerate very fast in this time. The topic is now on the political agenda in Europe. So there is really, a movement that was started, not just with us also others took the floor, but I think it shows how strong we can be also in working together, in collaborating, and that's why we figured it's now time looking around us to go into a next level. To see how ‘RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER’ can open up this movement in uniting artists, cultural leaders and institutions in Europe to maintain artistic freedom and also the autonomy of the arts.
Can you describe a little bit, what is RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER? What does it mean to you? And also why is it essential to launch this initiative now after the many other activities, you are doing also, as a director?
Milo Rau: I mean, The ‘Resistance Now’ campaign started in a very practical way. Again, it was the dismissal of Matej Drlička in Slovakia, and we just wanted to react, the first little step of campaigning. And then started the campaign going through different countries also outside Europe, perhaps like 20 countries, meeting cultural actors there, having discussions, open letters, connecting. And we found out that, I think that's an experience you have since many years, but for me it was new, last year, to understand that in this sector, in all the countries, we have the exact same shift in the cultural field, and how politics react to it, and that we have no agency on the international level and that we are very much provincialised, or we provincialised ourselves.
The European Union, for example, is absolutely not prepared for it, or there's even a taboo to interfere in the national cultural sectors. Because of course, there is freedom of art, and you can't interfere in the politics of the countries that we have to change that. If you are dismissed because of political reasons, which is declared as a kind of an artistic gusto, then you can go nowhere. So we understood that we have to go there.
And for me, surprisingly, the first steps we did together was so fast and so extremely successful.
I think for me, in my life as campaigner, it was the fastest and most successful step, I ever did. [We reached] 300 institutions in some 50 countries, in weeks only.
And directly, we meet the people from the Parliament, and from the Commission. That's why we added this little word: ‘together’ to underline that it's really about transnational collaboration, as right-wing politics, as we know, are interfering in politics of all countries are internationally linked too. So we should be too. And not only by discussing, but taking this, I think, extremely pragmatic approach, which inspired the first part of ‘Resistance Now,’ and now to the second part too, that we really want to go from, I mean, already when we start now in Athens and in Berlin, it's really about talking about the specific situation, I guess in Greece, in Europe, in Germany, and from there going step by step, again, having a platform where we continue to connect the voices, the experiences, but also the projects, that we plan to do in the next months.
There was never a place, a pool where everybody could go and say, okay, here we connect everything and when you do this on the 7th of September, I will do this on the 8th, you will do this on the 9th and on the 10th we meet in Brussels.
Heidi Wiley: Exactly, giving more visibility to the many initiatives that are out there, but where is it sort of accessible, so that in Europe we can speak with one voice while we want the same things to happen. But also for us, and this is I think now the next step is to connect RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER with the artistic work, with the tools and means and forms of expressions that we have in bringing them to the political floor and finding this dialogue, which is so much, needed and, yes, to engage really across Europe.
So this would probably be what we hope is the impact of bringing the many voices together, of this initiative. And you stressed very well, I think, using existing structures, networks that have a fast possibility to interact, not just to support artists, but also to use the power in, many theatres, in our case, theatres or the networks, there are many cultural networks in Europe, to really go into the last corners of Europe also to mobilise, to advocate, to inform people also on what's going on, so that we become stronger together. I think that's really key here.
But let's come back also to your, to your work, Milo. Because I think resistance is very much also about artistic expression itself. And, in your work, you always pushed boundaries. You explore resistance not just as a theme, but as a practice. So how does resistance shape your work, actually?
Milo Rau: For example, this, what we’re doing, I approach it like an art project. You know, for me, it's an experiment to understand how far can we go by connecting. Theatre is a very, let's say very collective art form. So what I try to do and of course, on a very big scale, we do it in this initiative, in this campaign, but in every project, I try to connect people that would never meet each other if not in this project.
Heidi Wiley: And finally, Milo, if there's one thing you want artists, institutions and audiences to take away from the RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER campaign, what is it?
Milo Rau: I mean, join it. We’ve added the little word ‘together’ to make it really clear that we can only be strong together. We are all in Europe together. Alone we are, I don't know what we are.
We are great artists, but I think if we don't collectively act now, we will just not have the funds anymore. We will not have the institutions anymore, at one point because they are closing and people are dismissed. It's really actually happening. So that's why we have to move together and get strong.
Yes. To protect our public spaces, to protect the artistic freedom, to protect the autonomy of doing, what we feel is art for everyone, also in Europe. Totally, totally. So I think that brings us to our message: To all of you, in Athens or wherever you are, now it's up to all of us to take action. RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER is not just a call for awareness, It's a call for participation.
Heidi Wiley: We need theatres, artists and cultural leaders across Europe to join this movement to amplify our message.
Milo Rau: This is about protecting the freedom of culture, making sure artistic expression remains strong and independent from political interference.
Heidi Wiley: Together, we can make a real difference. RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER is an initiative so that theatre, that culture in Europe, can thrive.
The RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER campaign invites creatives to join and make visible the many events and actions on resistance and art across Europe—and the enduring relevance of theatre in the context of increasing political pressure and attacks on cultural autonomy.
By presenting a united front, the campaign empowers cultural organisations from all disciplines to stand together in response to rising nationalism and political interference—and to establish a ‘European Culture Freedom Act’, to protect freedom of cultural expression in Europe.
Cover photo: Launch of the RESISTANCE NOW TOGETHER campaign at the ETC International Theatre Conference hosted by the National Theatre of Greece (03-07 April 2025). © Apostolis Koutsianikoulis
