National Campaign for Freedom of Expression

NCFE maintains a hotline for artists and arts organizations to report challenges to freedom of artistic expression. NCFE provides advocacy support, including media advocacy, with respect to specfic challenges and helps artists and arts communities organize to promote artisitc freedom. NCFE also acts a liaison between the arts community and the national civil liberties community. The NCFE Quarterly reports on challenges and examines current issues of free speech and artistic freedom.

(202) 393-2787
(800) 477-6233
1429 G Street NW
PMB # 416
Washington, DC 20005
www.ncfe.net

Note: Unfortunately, NCFE no longer exists.

National Coalition Against Censorship

NCAC is a broad-based coalition of national, nonprofit organizations, including religious, educational, artistic, labor, professional, and civil rights groups, dedicated to fighting censorship. Founded in 1974, NCAC engages in public education and advocacy at national, state, and local levels. NCAC monitors controversies; acts as a clearinghouse; organizes meetings and conferences; provides analyses, strategies, research, referrals, and speakers; publishes newsletters and policy papers; and provides information to lawyers, scholars, journalists, and the general public. The organization provides direct assistance to individuals and groups fighting censorship battles. NCAC encourages grassroots activism in support of the First Amendment and has a large network of activists, including a working group on women, censorship and "pornography," which opposes censorship from a feminist perspective.

(212) 807-6222
275 Seventh Ave.
New York, N.Y. 10001

www.ncac.org

People for the American Way/artsave Project

Founded in 1980 by Norman Lear and a group of civic and religious leaders, People for the American Way was established to help strengthen our national commitment to the spirit of community. As part of its mission, People For strives to advance fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and respect for cultural pluralism. The organization combines research, education, and technical and legal assistance to promote freedom of expression and combat censorship in a variety of media. It publishes Artistic Freedom Under Attack, a comprehensive survey of arts censorship incidents, vols. 1-4, and its artsave project monitors, publicizes, and counters attacks on artistic expression through legal and technical assistance to artists and arts institutions. PFAW also publishes Protecting the Freedom to Learn which provides legal and technical assistance to educators and parents facing censorship challenges in their communities and local schools.

(800) 743-6768
2000 M Street, NW
Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20036

www.pfaw.org

Alliance of Artists Communities

Alternate ROOTS

Alternate ROOTS, a membership service organization based in the Southeast, supports the creation and presentation of original performing art that is rooted in a particular community of place, tradition, or spirit. ROOTS is committed to social and economic justice and the protection of the natural world, and addresses those concerns through its services and programs.

American Association of University Professors

The association's mission is the protection and advancement of academic freedom in American colleges and universities and the promotion of teaching and research.

(202) 737-5900
1012 14th Street NW
Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20005 www.aaup.org

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, formed in 1990, aims to inform and educate booksellers, other members of the book industry, and the public about the deleterious effects of censorship; and to actively promote and protect the free expression of ideas, particularly freedom in the choice of reading material.

(914) 591-BOOK x.267
828 South Broadway
Tarrytown, N.Y. 10591 news.bookweb.org/freeexpression

American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom

The Office for Intellectual Freedom is charged with implementing the intellectual freedom policies of the American Library Association. The specific goal of the office is to educate librarians and the public about the importance of the concept, as embodied in the Bill of Rights. The office publishes the bimonthly Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, the Intellectual Freedom Manual, and Censorship and Selection: Issues and Answers for Schools.

Asian American Arts Alliance

Asian American Arts Alliance is a not-for-profit arts service organization founded in 1983 to increase the support, recognition, and appreciation of Asian American arts. The Arts Alliance strives to assist Asian American artists and their groups, and raise awareness of the diversity of Asian American arts and cultures. They provide information services, networking and advocacy services, and professional assistance through publications, technical assistance, public forums and roundtables, referrals, and a resource library. Publications include Resource Directory, a bi-monthly Asian American Arts Calendar/Resources & Opportunities, and Dialogue, a bilingual Asian American arts magazine.

(212) 941-9208
74 Varick Street
Suite 302
New York, N.Y. 10013
www.aaartsalliance.org

Association of American Publishers

AAP is the national trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry. Among AAP's primary concerns are the protection of intellectual property rights in all media and the defense of free expression and freedom to publish at home and abroad.

(202) 232-3335
1718 Connecticut Ave., NW
7th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20009 www.publishers.org

Association of American University Presses

AAUP is a cooperative, nonprofit organization of university presses. Formally established in 1937, the organization promotes the work and influence of university presses, provides cooperative marketing efforts, and helps its presses respond to the changing economy and environment.

(212) 941-6610
584 Broadway
Suite 410
New York, NY 10012
www.aaupnet.org

Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers

AIVF aims to increase the creative and professional opportunities for independent video and filmmakers, to ensure and enhance the growth of independent media by providing services, advocacy and information, and promoting diversity and democracy in the communication and expression of ideas and images.

(212) 807-1400
304 Hudson Street
Sixth Floor
New York, NY 10013
www.aivf.org

Association of Performing Arts Presenters

The Association of Performing Arts Presenters is an international service organization with over 1,600 members in the United States and Canada ranging from large performing arts centers in major urban areas to small presenting groups in rural communities.

(202) 833-2787
1112 16th Street NW
Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20036
www.artspresenters.org

Atlatl, Inc.

Atlatl, a national service organization for Native American artists, exists to promote the vitality of contemporary Native American arts.

(602) 277-3711
P.O. Box 34090
Phoenix, AZ 85067
www.atlatl.org

College Art Association

The College Art Association, founded in 1911, promotes the highest standards of scholarship and teaching in the history and criticism of the visual arts and the highest levels of creativity and technical skill in the teaching and the practices of art.

(212) 691-1051
275 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
www.collegeart.org

Council of Literary Magazines and Presses

CLMP is a national organization whose mission is to preserve, promote, and support independent noncommercial literary magazines and presses through services and programs for members including technical assistance, research and development, advocacy, information services, and other initiatives.

(212) 741-9110
154 Christopher Street
Suite 3C
New York, NY 10014 www.clmp.org

Dance Theater Workshop

Dance Theater Workshop is a not-for-profit, community-based organization that provides artist sponsorship programs and production facilities as well as a broad spectrum of administrative, promotional, and technical services to the community of independent artists.

(212) 691-6500
219 W. 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
www.dtw.org

Dance/USA

Dance/USA is a national service organization that speaks for dance and acts as a forum to advance the art of dance.

(202) 833-1717
1156 15th Street NW
Suite 820
Washington, D.C. 20005-1704 www.danceusa.org

Feminists for Free Expression

Feminists for Free Expression is a group of diverse feminists working to preserve the individual's right and responsibility to read, hear, view, and produce materials of her choice, without the intervention of the state "for her own good."

(212) 702-6292
2525 Times Square Station
New York, N.Y. 10108
www.ffeusa.org

Freedom to Read Foundation

The Freedom to Read Foundation promotes and defends First Amendment rights to express ideas without government interference, and to read and listen to the ideas of others, particularly through library collections. The foundation challenges the constitutionality of laws that inhibit the exercise of those rights. Through participation as a party or an amicus in important First Amendment litigation, the foundation supports the rights of libraries and librarians to include in their collections and to disseminate to the public any work that has not previously been declared illegal.

(312) 280-4226
50 East Huron
Chicago, IL 60611
www.ftrf.org

International Sculpture Center

The International Sculpture Center is a nonprofit service organization for sculptors and others significantly involved in sculpture. Established in 1960, the ISC works to create a stable environment for sculptors by providing them with opportunities and by encouraging the development and advancement of three-dimensional art. Services include biennial international conferences and technical workshops, publications, computerized sculpture registry, and exhibition services.

(202) 785-1144
1050 17th Street NW
Suite 250
Washington, D.C. 20036
www.sculpture.org

The Literary Network

The Literary Network, cosponsored by 15 nonprofit literary presses and organizations, is designed to inform and mobilize the field of literature on issues pertaining to the freedom of expression, with special focus on the controversy surrounding the National Endowment for the Arts.

(212) 741-9110
154 Christopher Street
Suite 3C
New York, NY 10014 www.clmp.org/about/adv_lit.html

Massachusetts Music Industry Coalition

Mass. M.I.C. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the freedom of musical expression in Massachusetts and nationwide. The organization is a coalition of musicians, fans, promoters, music media, and music industry professionals.

(978) 537-1669
www.massmic.com

Media Coalition

The Media Coalition, founded in 1973, is an association that defends the right to produce, distribute, and sell First Amendment protected materials.

(212) 587-4025
139 Fulton Street
Suite 302
New York, N.Y. 10038 www.mediacoalition.org

National Association of Artists' Organizations

NAAO is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to serving and promoting artist-run organizations: the primary supporters, presenters, and makers of new and emerging work in the visual, performing, media, literary, and interdisciplinary arts. NAAO provides a national voice advocating for cultural equity, freedom of expression, individual artists, and the organizations that serve them.

(202) 347-6350
1718 M Street NW
PMB 239
Washington, D.C. 20036 www.naao.net

National Association of Latino Arts and Culture

NALAC is an emerging arts service orgainzation formed to serve the unique needs of the diverse Latino arts and cultural communities throughout the United States. The primary focus of the orgainzation is to provide leadership in advocacy of national policy issues that impact the Latino arts and cultural communities across the nation.

(210) 227-1432
1300 Guadeloupe Street
San Antonio, TX 78207
www.nalac.org

National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture

NAMAC is an association of organizations and individuals dedicated to building a broad, common vision of diversity and equity, decentralization, and participation in the media arts—audio, video, film, and new multimedia technologies. NAMAC's aims include making media arts organizations an integral part of the community; ensuring that independent media artists from all cultural communities receive the recognition and support they merit; integrating media into all levels of education and promoting media literacy as an educational goal; promoting humane uses of and individual access to current and future media technologies; and encouraging media arts that are rooted in communities as well as those that are global in outlook.

(415) 431-1391
346 9th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
www.namac.org

National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

NASAA is a membership organization representing the 56 arts agencies of the 50 states and six special jurisdictions of the United States.

(202) 347-6352
1029 Vermont Avenue NW
Second Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
www.nasaa-arts.org

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

NGLTF is a civil rights organization building a movement to promote freedom and full equality for all lesbians and gay men.

National Performance Network

The National Performance Network is a program conceived as a means to support the work and creative processes of a national community of artists in dance, theater, music, performance art and puppetry in all regions of the United States. The network is a consortium of 58 cultural organizations.

(212) 645-6200
54 W.21st Street
Suite 501
New York, NY 10010 www.npnweb.org

National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981, AFL-CIO

The NWU promotes and protects the rights, interests, and economic advancement of members; organizes writers to improve professional working conditions through collective bargaining actions; and provides professional services to members.

PEN American Center

PEN American Center is the largest of 130 centers that make up International PEN. Founded in London in 1921 by John Galsworthy to foster understanding among men and women of letters in all countries, International PEN is the only worldwide organization of writers and the chief voice of the literary community. Members of PEN work for freedom of expression wherever it has been endangered; the PEN Freedom-to-Write Committee issues a bimonthly bulletin.

Society for Photographic Education

The Society for Photographic Education is a nonprofit, membership organization that provides a forum for the discussion of photography as a means of creative cultural expression and cultural insight.

(303) 492-0588

www.spenational.org

Theatre Communications Group

Theatre Communications Group is the national organization for nonprofit professional theatre.

American Civil Liberties Union

The ACLU is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public interest organization devoted exclusively to protecting the basic civil liberties of all Americans, and extending them to groups that have traditionally been denied those rights. The mission of the ACLU is to assure that guarantees against unwanted governmental control in the Bill of Rights are respected and preserved for each new generation. In the area of the First Amendment, the ACLU works to preserve religious liberty, separation of church and state, and freedom of expression, association, and assembly.

Contact your local affiliate

see www.aclu.org

Center for Constitutional Rights

Center for Constitutional Rights was founded in 1966 by attorneys dedicated to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. Among CCR's programs is the Movement Support Network, an anti-repression project that monitors surveillance of progressive organizations and activists by government and private agencies; provides advice and legal assistance to groups and individuals targeted by government agencies; and alerts Congress and the media to instances and trends in repression.

(212) 614-6464
666 Broadway
New York, N.Y. 10012 www.ccr-ny.org

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is a national organization that promotes fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of individuals and events in all media as a means of combating homophobia and all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.

(212) 807-1700
150 West 26th Street
Suite 503
New York, N.Y. 10001 www.glaad.org

LAMBDA Legal Defense and Education Fund

LAMBDA, founded in 1973, works to defend and extend the rights of lesbians and gay men through test case litigation and public education.

(212) 809-8585
120 Wall Street
Suite 1500
New York, N.Y. 10005 www.lambda.org

Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression

The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression devoted to the defense of free expression in all its forms: it is as concerned with the musician as with the mass media, with the painter as with the publisher and with the sculptor as with the editor. The Thomas Jefferson Center has close ties with the University of Virginia, but is an autonomous, not-for-profit entity.

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has a national network of over forty independent VLAs throughout the United States and Canada providing legal services and assistance to artists and arts organizations in all creative fields who cannot afford private counsel.

(212) 319-2787
1 E. 53rd St.
6th Floor
New York, NY 10022 www.vlany.org

American Forum

The American Forum helps organizations place op-eds and other media articles in news outlets around the country.

529 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20045
(202)638-1431 www.mediaforum.org

Cause Communications

Provides media training workshops to non-profit organizations and citizens interested in public interest issues.

1836 Blake Street
Suite 100B
Denver, CO 80202
(303)292-1524 www.causecommunications.org

Communications Consortium Media Center

CCMC is a public interest media center dedicated to helping nonprofit organizations use media and telecommunications technologiues as tools for public education and policy change. CCMC’s work is focused on a cluster of issues: chiuldren and families, health care,, gender equality, reproductive rights, global population, the environment, voting rights, civil rights, and immigration. Projects typically last one to ficve years and are individually supported financially.

(202) 326-8700
1333 H Street, NW #700
Washington, D.C. 20005 www.ccmc.org

The Progressive Media Project

Helps individuals and groups publish op-eds in newspapers around the country.

409 East Main Street
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 257-4626 www.progressive.org/mediaproj.htm

ProMedia

Provides public interest media consulting for larger and smaller non-profit groups.

Riptide Communications, Inc.

Provides public interest media consulting.

666 Broadway
Suite 444
New York, NY 10012
(212)260-5000 www.riptideonline.com

SPIN - Institute for Alternative Journalism

The SPIN Project at the Institute for Alternative Journalism offers free media advocacy consulting and training for progressive, nonprofit organizations.Making the News: A guide for Nonprofits & Activists by Jason Salzman (Westview Press, 1998) is a very useful reference for media advocacy. Its resource section provides references to other media how-to books, sources for lists of news outlets, news media watchdog groups, media literacy organizations, communications consultants, and information on community organizing and fundraising.