Index invites you to Dilemmas, Debates, Demands and Drinks a candid discussion about working with freedom of expression.

Where: Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, EC1R 3GA
When: 7 February 7  6.30pm – 9pm
Tickets: Free, but RSVP Essential via [email protected]

A year on from Index’s conference ‘Taking the Offensive – defending artistic freedom of expression in the UK’  (read the conference report here) – join us for an open space event at the Free Word Centre to discuss how the changing free expression landscape affects the arts and vice versa.

There were highs and lows for free expression in UK last year.

HIGHS: the reform libel law by the Defamation Act; the box-office success for Book of Mormons; the growth in sales of self-published books; reform of Section 5 of the Public Order Act, and Grayson Perry singing out loud and clear for freedom of expression in the Reith Lectures.  What pushed the boundaries for you in 2013?

LOWS: the revelations about government’s wholesale surveillance of our online activity, the enactment of new press regulations post Leveson, government commissioned web filtering and segregation on university campuses, reforms to GCSE downgrading arts education. How do these developments affect the climate for artistic expression?

FUTURE: The issues of online filters, the call for protection against harassment and social media guidelines (Crown Prosecution Service social media guidelines published last year) require us all to think what sort of internet we want – how free it is, or should be.  Are you, or artists/producers you know, concerned about online abuse or commentary in relation to your work?

OPEN SPACE EVENT:  The agenda is based on what you bring to it. Here is the space to discuss anything from one of the big issues of the day or talk about that difficult poem that someone once wrote in a workshop.  Or just sit and listen.  Join Indexers past and present and some of our close friends and associates at Free Word, facilitated by Chrissie Tiller.