Mission
Don’t Delete Art (DDA) strives to raise awareness and advocate for a more tolerant and inclusive digital environment for artists. We are dedicated to the protection and promotion of diverse forms of artistic expression on digital platforms, calling for companies to actively engage artists in the creation of more just and responsive moderation mechanisms and practices. DDA uses our platform and gallery to highlight censored voices and recognizes our position as an advocate and educator on the kinds of censorship artists face online and the role of digital platforms in ameliorating it.
Origins
Don’t Delete Art (DDA) is a project to draw attention to the damage done when social media companies censor art, and to work towards greater protection of artistic expression across platforms.
The project is a collaboration between artist-activists, art collectors and human rights organizations that was convened in March 2020 by the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). Its founding member curators were Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), Article 19, IBEX collectors, International Arts Rights Advisors, Freemuse, and artists Savannah Spirit and Spencer Tunick. These founding curators launched the DDA Gallery, Campaign, and Resources: the Gallery provides information about what types of images are suppressed by social media; the Campaign demands advocate for change; and the Resources helps artists to navigate the current terms of social media censorship. In 2022, arts writer Emma Shapiro joined the project as Editor-at-Large, launching, with Savannah Spirit, a Newsletter providing analysis of new censorship trends along with interviews with censored artists.
Today, DDA’s organizational partners are the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Art and Culture Advocacy Program, Artists at Risk Connection, and Freemuse. DDA’s core curators include Savannah Spirit, Spencer Tunick, Elizabeth Larison (NCAC), Svetlana Mintcheva (NCAC), Julie Trebault (ARC), Jake Neuberger (ARC), Valentine Sargent (ARC), Sverre Pedersen (Freemuse), and DDA’s Editor-at-Large, Emma Shapiro. Guest curators are invited to contribute on a rolling and temporary basis.
DDA’s activities are made possible by generous amounts of volunteer time, in-kind organizational resources, and funds donated through this link. Don’t Delete Art is fiscally sponsored by the National Coalition Against Censorship, and all contributions through the link above are tax deductible as allowed by law.