Russia: Drop all charges against Yulia Tsvetkova

Award-winning artist faces six years in jail for her work promoting body positivity and women's rights

Why a naked feminist statue should remain uncensored

Maggi Hambling's A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft has been roundly criticised, with some trying to censor its nakedness

Index launches weekly What the Fuck!? podcast with Alison Jackson

British artist and photographer talks about artistic freedom and driving a fake and half-naked Donald Trump around Manhattan

Take our survey into artistic freedom of expression and the internet

Is the freedom the internet initially offered the arts to publish work and find audiences becoming more restrictive? We want your views.

Russian poet Anzhelina Polonskaya: “The world does not mean happiness for most people”

Anzhelina Polonskaya became a recognised writer and poet during the turbulent post-Soviet Union era. Inspired by the works of famous Russian writers, she became a self-taught poet

Index launches new advisory service for arts organisations

Arts Censorship Support Service will provide assistance to colleagues in the cultural sector facing issues of censorship.

Out of Joint / Rita Sue and Bob Too by Andrea Dunbar

Andrea Dunbar’s play Rita Sue and Bob Too was commissioned by Max Stafford-Clarke, then artistic director of Royal Court, in 1982.

Mimsy / Isis Threaten Sylvania

‘Isis Threaten Sylvania’ is a satirical series of light box tableaux, using the children’s toys ‘Sylvanian Families’.

Turkey “turned into a place where it became impossible to breathe”

“It turned into a place where it became impossible to breathe,” says feminist visual artist Özgül Arslan about Turkey.

Julia Farrington: “Art doesn’t divide society, it reveals division”

Rights, Risks & Reputations is a training programme developed by Index, What Next? and Cause4 to help art and cultural leaders understand and challenge a risk-averse culture and incorporate these topics within their organisations.

Using the arts to show a new perspective and horizon

What does it say about our society, when some of us are censoring our most natural actions in order to fit in? Where there is a feeling that particular gestures or words will have undesired consequences, or worse, lead to some kind of punishment.

Turkey’s thought-provoking playwrights, actors and directors have little choice but to become exiles

For Turkish director and actor Memet Ali Alabora, theatre is about creating an environment in which the audience is encouraged to think, react and reflect