ARTISTS FOR DEMOCRACY: REVISITED
In May 1974, artists David Medalla, Cecilia Vicuña, John Dugger and art critic Guy Brett co-founded the artist collective, Artists for Democracy (AFD). AFD was formed initially to raise support for democracy in Chile after the military coup in 1973, and to give ‘material and cultural support to liberation movements worldwide’, using art as ‘a way of making global political struggles visible’. A previous collective group established in 1971 by Medalla and Dugger – the Artists Liberation Front – was the precursor to AFD and shared some of the same members and political agenda.
AFD arranged the Arts Festival for Democracy in Chile at the Royal College of Art in October 1974 – a significant cultural event with many well-known international and British artists, speakers, dancers and musicians taking part in the events that were held over two weeks.
In November that same year, AFD soon regrouped after post-Festival internal divisions, and David Medalla and collaborators squatted a building in Whitfield Street in central London, which later became known as the Fitzrovia Cultural Centre. With the cooperation and assistance of many artists, friends and supporters, Medalla and Brett set up this ambitiously named, unorthodox ‘cultural centre’ as a tangible space outside the artworld mainstream where they could expand and continue AFD activities.