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State of the Arts

Advancing Jewish Inclusion in Arts, Entertainment and Culture

State of the Arts is an ADL initiative documenting the representation of Jewish and Israeli artists and stories across American culture. It brings together three core reports: Behind the Frame, a scorecard of 40 major art museums; Dark Stage, an interactive timeline of incidents across the performing arts and entertainment; and Missing Chapter, an analysis of trends in the literary world. The initiative also provides new research on public attitudes and the rise of extremist groups in the cultural space.

Explore the State of the Arts Initiative

How do America’s art museums score?

How do America's most influential art museums treat Jewish artists and stories — and address bias in their policies, programming, and partnerships? We graded all 40. Explore the results.

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Art Institute of Chicago Logo
Work In Progress

Work In Progress

Art Institute of Chicago

Updated:

Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive Logo
Gold Standard

Gold Standard

Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive

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Brooklyn Museum Logo
Good Showing

Good Showing

Brooklyn Museum

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Cleveland Museum of Art Logo
Good Showing

Good Showing

Cleveland Museum of Art

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Artist Stories

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Missing Chapter

Anti-Jewish trends in publishing

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Preston Fassel

Preston Fassel

Novelist, Screenwriter and Film Executive

“I started to get disinvited from events on the basis that there would be ‘No Zionists allowed. We want this to be a safe space...”

Blacklisting and Boycotts of Jewish, Israeli and Zionist Authors

Liza Libes

Liza Libes

Writer and Content Creator

"I sent out two batches of queries of my latest novel. One didn't mention Judaism at all. The second was pitched as a Jewish book. I got ten responses to the first one and zero responses to the second one."

Suppression of Books with Jewish, Israeli or Zionist Characters and Themes

Dark Stage

Case Studies

Disruption

Cancellation

Protest

Harassment

Vandalism

ProtestProtest

Location

Washington, District of Columbia

The Anti-War Committee DMV began a “SHUT DOWN SEINFELD” online protest, urging a venue hosting comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s October 2026 shows to cancel his upcoming appearances.

ProtestProtest

Location

New York City, New York

Theater Workers for a Ceasefire published a statement online urging audiences to boycott Birthright, a play by Jonathan Spector. Although the play presents a range of perspectives among Jewish characters on Israel, the group, citing the principles of the BDS movement, argued that the production contributes to the normalization of Israel.

DisruptionEvent Disruption

Location

New York City, New York

Jewish-American comedian Judy Gold was targeted by antisemitic abuse at two separate comedy shows in New York over the same weekend, with one audience member shouting “You’re a Jew.”

Turn research into action

Urge cultural institutions to protect Jewish and Israeli artists, confront antisemitism and exclusion and build policies and practices that keep their doors, pages and stages open.

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