The No Arms In The Arts campaign is led by a coalition of groups- including Artists Against Artwashing, Canlit Responds, Writers Against The War On Gaza - Toronto, Film Workers For Palestine and Musicians Against Artwashing - that reject arts funding tied to the ongoing displacement and death of Palestinians.

No Arms In The Arts Festival 2025 is a second year of film, readings, music and panel discussions where organizers will reflect on our many months of organizing thus far, and talk through the road ahead towards Palestinian liberation.

In March 2024, No Arms In The Arts launched a campaign against Scotiabank, which at the time sponsored the Hot Docs Film Festival, The Giller Prize, and the Scotiabank Photography Award. Scotiabank is also a major foreign investor in Elbit Systems. Elbit is Israel's largest military and arms company, providing 85% of Israel's land-based military equipment and 85% of its drones.

After 100s of authors boycotted the Giller Prize over its ties to sponsors materially supporting Israel's genocide, the Giller Foundation announced the end of its 20-year Scotiabank partnership. Two months later, Hot Docs acknowledged that Scotiabank had relinquished recognition rights for the 2025 festival, and that it would be their final year as a festival sponsor.

By the end of 2024, Scotiabank had cut its investment in Elbit Systems to $111 million - a gradual divestment of close to $400 million. This was the result of nationwide pressure campaigns, including agitation, counterprogramming and labour withdrawal led by No Arms In The Arts organizing. Elbit’s CEO has attributed falling stock prices to the work of pressure campaigns in Canada, saying, “Some investors, fortunately only a few, experienced political pressures of some sort and decided to sell, for example the Canadian fund that sold a large number of shares and pushed the share price down.” But in the first quarter of 2025, Scotiabank quietly increased its number of shares by 25% - nowhere close to its original stake, but a move that emphasizes the need to keep the pressure on.

No Arms In The Arts has also expanded its targets to include the Azrieli Foundation and Indigo Books.

The Azrieli Foundation is the charitable arm of the Azrieli Group, Israel's largest real estate developer. The Azrieli Group has profited off settlements in the occupied West Bank through substantial shares in Leumi Bank and its former ownership of the Sonol gas chain— settlements deemed illegal under international law. The Foundation itself has donated to anti-Palestinian organizations like HonestReporting Canada, and far-right Zionist group Im Tirtzu.

Indigo Books is controlled by Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman, who fund the HESEG Foundation. HESEG provides incentives in the form of scholarships for non-Israeli citizens — also known as “lone soldiers” — to serve in the IOF to displace, terrorize and kill Palestinians.

Our campaign is about recognizing artists as cultural workers with labour power, and cultural boycotts as labour actions. We're here to identify the leverage we have in our mediums and industries to throw a wrench into Israel's war machine.