"The real loss is the work that was never made and never seen."
— A respondent, December 2025
The New Boycott Crisis.
A 40-page confidential study of how cultural boycotts are reshaping the UK arts sector — drawn from 194 sector workers, 45 in-depth interviews, and a senior leaders' roundtable. Read together with Afraid to Speak Freely, it documents the system producing the chilling effect that report described a year earlier.
From the testimony
Confidential survey responses and in-depth interviews with 194 sector workers. Names withheld by request — public identification, several said, would risk further exclusion.
"No one accused me of anything. They just stopped replying."
— An artist
"There was no protest. There were no complaints. But we could see how it would go."
— A venue leader
"We were told it was a safeguarding issue, but no one could explain how."
— A venue leader
"You make terrible art when you're cowering."
— An artist
"Pre-emptive cancellation, driven by fear of what might happen — rather than response to anything that has."
The report's most distinctive finding is named in two words: anticipatory compliance. Institutions are cancelling work, withdrawing invitations, and quietly dropping artists before any campaign or audience reaction has materialised. The cancellation is not a response to pressure — it is the absorption of pressure that has not yet been applied.
The mechanism producing it is internal. Pressure on venues, festivals and institutions overwhelmingly originates inside the organisation, not outside it — staff complaints, advisory bodies, partner organisations, internal networks — and the language used is the language of safety, safeguarding and welfare, even when no genuine safety concern is at stake. Public protest is frequently minimal or absent. Audience boycotts are rare. The force is already in the building. Anticipatory compliance is what the building does next.
do not feel free to speak openly in their workplace.
have been intimidated into silence on contested issues.
report pressure from colleagues not to participate.
Findings from the report's survey of 194 sector workers — Fahmy, Kay & Phoenix, April 2026.
What it looks like — three cases the report draws on.
Author John Boyne longlisted; gender-critical views known. Authors and judges began withdrawing in protest, and within two weeks the organisers announced the prize would be "paused" for the year.p.14
The CEO of Bristol's Watershed described the venue's policy at a senior arts leaders' conference: "Say goodbye to people who police your values." The pledge included signing the Bristol Apartheid Free Zone agreement.pp.25–26
UK concerts by Jonny Greenwood with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa — a long-running cross-cultural collaboration — cancelled at Hackney Church and Bristol Beacon under protest pressure and security concerns.p.20
What the report calls for.
The report's case for action is addressed to leadership — boards, funders, governance bodies, policymakers — and is structured around four areas. Governance: boards equipped with scenario planning, legal literacy and clear protocols for decision-making under pressure. Legal clarity: accessible guidance on equality law, contractual obligations, and the legal thresholds for exclusion — available at the point of crisis, not after the damage is done. Sector coordination: cross-sectoral networks committed to resisting boycott logic and sharing resources, transforming the incentive structure from compliance to resistance. Collective capacity: mechanisms for the silent majority to act together, since isolation is a key driver of capitulation. Without intervention, the self-reinforcing dynamics documented in this report will intensify.