The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has released a series of reports alleging systemic exclusion of Jewish and Israeli artists in cultural spaces. The reports, part of the ADL's "State of the Arts" initiative, focus on the publishing, museums, and entertainment industries. According to the ADL, the reports reveal a pattern of erasure by omission, with comparatively few recognitions of Jewish American Heritage Month. The reports were shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in advance of their publication.
The reports include grades for 40 museums on Jewish and Israeli representation, a trend report based on interviews with over 30 Jewish authors and publishing professionals, and a survey of 65 incidents of Jewish, Israeli, and openly Zionist artists facing growing scrutiny, protest, disruption, and cancellation. The ADL also released guidelines for how venues should host and engage with Jewish artists. The reports were launched at an event at the Jewish Museum in New York, attended by ADL chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt and Jewish entertainers, including actor Selma Blair.
The ADL's vice-president of public affairs and special initiatives, Shira Goodman, said the project was motivated by concerns from patrons of the arts and artists about their treatment in cultural spaces. The ADL started tracking Jewish and Israeli artists who had been targeted by protests and heard from Jewish authors about the publishing industry. Goodman said the team aimed to leverage boards of trustees, directors, and donors to have an impact. The project follows the ADL's campus antisemitism report cards, which launched in 2024.
The ADL's report on the publishing industry alleges boycotts and exclusions of Jewish authors based on their identities. A report from the literary free-speech group PEN America reached similar conclusions, leading to internal divisions and the resignation of its president. New Jewish publishing initiatives aim to counteract the exclusion of Jewish voices in mainstream publishing. Several pro-Israel Jewish artists have seen their events targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters since October 7.
The ADL's report catalogues incidents of Jewish or Israeli artists being targeted, including demonstrations staged by neo-Nazis against Jewish-themed theatrical shows. The ADL treats these incidents as equivalent to pro-Palestinian protests, saying they are equally disruptive and exclusionary of Jewish voices. The report also notes that many entertainment spaces cite heightened security concerns as a reason not to engage with the topic.
The museum report assigns ratings to 40 surveyed institutions, including major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim. The criteria include the number of Jewish and Israeli artists in each museum's collection and whether they are presented with "Jewish framing". The ADL assigned a "Gold Standard" rating only to the Berkeley Art Museum, while 12 museums, including the Whitney and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, received a "Critically Deficient" rating.
The ADL's researchers had no involvement in PEN's publishing report, but their own report argues that PEN didn't go far enough. The ADL has not yet thought through how it would record incidents like the controversy surrounding Robert Kraft's pressure on Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore from his tour. Goodman said the ADL encourages people to let speech go forward and typically has not been supportive of boycotts.
Key points
- The ADL alleges systemic exclusion of Jewish and Israeli artists in cultural spaces.
- The reports include grades for 40 museums on Jewish and Israeli representation.
- The ADL released guidelines for how venues should host and engage with Jewish artists.
