A French ministry report logged rising attacks on artistic freedom between March 2025 and March 2026.

A Ministry of Culture report tracked obstacles to freedom of creation between March 2025 and March 2026: threats, pressure, cyberharassment, deprogramming, cancellations. It also flagged something harder to count: self-censorship is rising among cultural workers who see what happens to the people who don't back down.

Three things landed within about a month of each other. The CESE, France's economic, social and environmental council, adopted an opinion on countering these obstacles by 120 votes on 24 March, reported by Souâd Belhaddad and Vincent Moisselin. An interministerial plan followed on 23 April. And the 2016 law that grounds freedom of creation in French law turned ten, which is why everyone is auditing it now.

The CESE opinion names real cases. Racist abuse aimed at performers in Rebecca Chaillon's production at the Festival d'Avignon. A Bilal Hassani concert in a deconsecrated church in Metz, cancelled after threats. A feminist photography exhibition in Nîmes, Benzine Cyprine, where 90% of the photographs were destroyed.

Its headline recommendation is a new independent authority to mediate and protect artists. It also wants 'public order' restricted as grounds for shutting down programming, penal code changes that make prosecuting threats easier, and proper legal and psychological support for people targeted.

None of the reports draw this connection directly, but it's worth naming: circus is exposed to both levers here. It's heavily outdoor and public-space programmed, which puts it under the 'public order' mechanism the CESE wants restricted. And it's heavily municipally funded, which makes budget-leverage pressure real rather than abstract.

The full CESE opinion is public. For anyone whose programming depends on a mayor's office or a public square, it's worth reading past the headline.