Takeaways from a Salzburg Global session on the power of narrative to combat misinformation and disinformation, reduce artistic risk and cultural exclusion, and support the struggle for truth
The following insights emerged from the Salzburg Global session on “Creating Futures: Art of Narrative.” This gathering of artists, filmmakers, journalists, cultural practitioners, and community organizers explored how art can challenge oppression, reclaim agency, and imagine equitable futures.
Conversations between these Salzburg Global Fellows revealed both the urgent threats facing artists today and the transformative power of global solidarity, decolonial imagination, and institutional accountability.
1. Systemic Exclusion in the Arts: Racism, Representation, and Censorship
Artists from the Global Majority, LGBTQ+ communities, and Indigenous and diasporic backgrounds face systemic barriers to funding, institutional recognition, and international platforms. Fellows shared experiences of racism in curatorial practices, a lack of diversity in decision-making spaces, visa inequalities, and exploitative representation by cultural institutions in the Global North. In repressive political environments or conservative societies, artists also face censorship, surveillance, and criminalization by governments, cultural institutions, online platforms, or even hostility from local communities. A Fellow emphasized that “artists are jailed and prosecuted because of their work, and since they are lesser known, the world does not care.” Artists in these contexts continue to balance their expression, security, and sustainability.
What’s Needed:
- Equitable and cross-border funding for marginalized and at-risk artists, especially through solidarity networks between artists
- Decentralized institutions rooted in community-driven art spaces and led by diverse curatorial and leadership voices
- Advocacy from the Global North’s cultural institutions to co-develop safety protocols and funding support for artists in order to uphold freedom of expression globally
2. Reimagining Funding for Artistic Expression: From Scarcity to Sustainability
Current funding models are unsustainable, driven by short-term deliverables, donor-driven agendas, and a lack of long-term institutional support. This causes many artists, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, to experience financial instability, emotional exhaustion, and pressure to constantly perform identity and trauma for visibility. True sustainability requires care-based approaches that value process over product.
What’s Needed:
- Alternative funding models rooted in care and solidarity
- Long-term process-focused funding models
- Cooperative and adaptable funding and institutional structures that foster reflection and collective growth
3. Decolonizing the Arts: Changing the Storytellers and Structures
Western institutions continue to impose aesthetic and linguistic norms that marginalize non-Western forms of expression. Even when diverse voices are included, they are frequently curated through a Eurocentric lens. Fellows pushed for storytelling rooted in local knowledge systems, Indigenous languages, and non-linear community-authored narratives. As one Fellow said, “If you want to change the stories, change the storytellers.”
What’s Needed:
- Autonomous artistic platforms for the Global Majority to curate and share their narratives
- Investment in South-South and South-East collaborations
- Curatorial practices shaped by and for local communities
4. Art as Resistance and Media Literacy in a Disinformation Age
Art is a powerful tool for challenging disinformation and reframing dominant narratives, especially in environments where trust in traditional media is low or information is heavily controlled. With the rise of AI-driven misinformation, narrative art plays an increasingly important role in offering alternative ways of knowing and restoring critical thinking. Fellows explored how misinformation often spreads through emotional manipulation – exploiting identity, fear, and grievance to deepen societal divisions. One Fellow highlighted how digital platform algorithms actively and deliberately amplify anti-gender disinformation in places like Africa. Another Fellow explored how storytelling can be used to counter hate speech and polarization, especially when narratives are grounded in lived experience and designed to foster understanding across ideological, religious, and cultural divides. Others emphasized that visual and interactive storytelling can foster empathy, critical thinking, and nuanced understanding.
What’s Needed:
- Interdisciplinary collaboration between artists, educators, and media practitioners
- Investment in creative approaches to media literacy, such as films, interactive experiences, immersive art, and video games
- Support for art that subverts dominant narratives and digital misinformation, and that encourages critical thinking
5. Art as Infrastructure for Community and Healing
Art is a process rather than a product. Whether it’s ritual, storytelling, or collaborative performance, art serves as community infrastructure and is therefore a tool for building trust, memory, and collective healing. One Fellow reflected that “the narrative of individualism activates fear and fuels authoritarianism," whereas a narrative of interconnection can sustain empathy and democracy. Another Fellow shared insights from Indigenous communities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, emphasizing that “to expand the circles of society and solidarity, we need interconnectedness.” Fellows discussed story circles, oral traditions, and community murals as acts of co-creation that nurture resilience. These practices often escape institutional recognition, yet they are the backbone of cultural survival and transformation.
What’s Needed:
- Recognition of informal, intergenerational, and community-rooted art practices
- Support for artist-facilitators as community healers and cultural stewards
- Investment in non-commercial and participatory art spaces
6. Expanding Narrative Power Through Emerging Technologies
Emerging technologies and digital tools are redefining how stories are created, shared, and experienced. Tools ranging from immersive media and interactive design to digital mapping and AI are unlocking new possibilities for narrative experimentation and engagement. As these mediums offer new ways to collapse distance, build empathy, and decentralize storytelling, artists are using them to subvert traditional power structures and expand audience interaction. But access remains unequal: For artists navigating systemic inequities, emerging tools can either open doors or replicate exclusions, depending on how infrastructure, training, and platforms are distributed. Many are fighting algorithmic biases and systemic racism on media platforms through integrating community-led practices and art with digital activism.
What’s Needed:
- Accessible digital training and tools for marginalized creators
- Ethical tech frameworks that consider accessibility, authorship, and data justice
- A shift toward community-rooted tech practices, open-source collaboration, and using digital spaces to tell often-silenced stories
Toward a Just and Liberated Creative Future
"Creating Futures: Art of Narrative" was not just a space for reflection, it was a call to action. Artists are not only creators; they are architects of social memory and resistance. Fellows' insights call for a collective push toward a future where stories are co-created, power is shared, and art fuels imagination for more just and liberated futures. To move forward, funders, institutions, and allies must do more than observe. Redistribute resources. Protect artistic freedom. Decolonize systems. And most importantly, follow the leadership of those whose stories have too often been ignored or erased.
Download these insights as a PDF document here.
Learn more about the "Creating Futures: Art of Narrative" session, which occurred from April 6 to 11, 2025 as part of the Culture, Arts and Society program.
