In May 2025, NCAC and the VLC convened a group of cultural leaders to assess needs and develop strategies in response to present threats to artistic and curatorial freedom and institutional independence. This meeting led to a call to action for an alliance of institutions and individuals working across the cultural sector to unite behind shared values. A subset of the group—including 23 individuals working in fields of contemporary art, performance, theater, civil rights, strategic communications, art law, and arts advocacy—participated in the drafting, editing, and review of The Statement. They included staff of the NCAC, VLC, Artists at Risk Connection, Jane Cohan (partner at James Cohan Gallery), Martha Wilson (Artist and Founding Director Emerita of Franklin Furnace Archive, Inc.), John Davis-Malloy (Past Chair, Arts, Entertainment, Media, and Sports Law Section, District of Columbia Bar), and several others.
 
The Statement articulates a set of foundational principles and shared values that unite America’s diverse arts and cultural field. Importantly, it reasserts the arts sector’s commitment to retain programmatic independence and resist pressures of institutional self-censorship, which is the only way to ensure that future generations inherit robust cultural institutions that stimulate the imagination, engender free thinking, and incubate new futures.