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.
June
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FRIDAY, JUNE 13
It's OK* Studios. 468 Queen Street West.6:30 PM: Doors
7:00 PM: ONE YEAR OF NO ARMS IN THE ARTS
Panel discussion: How do we choose targets? How do we build towards mass refusal? What purpose does counterprogramming serve? NAITA organizers discuss tactics, strategies, and the road ahead.
8:30 PM: NO ARMS IN THE ARTS BOOK CLUB #6
Readings and performances from Publishers for Palestine, Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch, H Felix Chau Bradley, authors boycotting the Giller Prize, and others.
9:30 PM: Music and social (performers TBA)
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SATURDAY, JUNE 14
BAAA! (Back Alley for Art & Architecture.) 300 Campbell Avenue, Suite 114.1:00-2:30 PM: INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL BOYCOTT
Panel discussion: Representatives from Strike Germany, the Art Not Genocide Alliance (Genocide Pavillion Venice Biennale boycott,) Strike Outset, and others will talk about the work required to build an international cultural front. Moderated by Ryan Ferko.
Cinecycle. 129 Spadina Avenue.4:00 PM: DIRTY LAUNDRY: ON CULTURE SECTOR FUNDING, CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP, AND NONPROFITS
Roundtable: Do our communities need to be beholden to corporate sponsorships, private donors, and nonprofits? Zionist charities bolster Canada's complicity in the oppression of Palestinians, and the arts sector has become a potent space for donors to launder influence. How do we untangle patronage culture and build sustainable spaces by and for art workers?
Dr. Miles Howe (Adjunct Professor of Critical Criminology at Brock University, postdoctoral fellow in Criminology at TMU), Scott Miller Berry (Workman Arts / Rendezvous With Madness, re:assemblage collective) and Sukaina Kubba (Toronto Coalition of Artists For Palestine) to present.
7:00 PM: LITTLE PALESTINE: DIARY OF A SIEGE (2021)
Screening: An elegy to Yarmouk, known as the capital of the Palestinian diaspora, a place that resisted atrocity with dignity, and that no longer exists today.
The screening will be preceded by a short intro from director Abdallah Al-Khatib. Post-screening conversation with Majd Al-Shihabi.
9:30 PM: MUSIC: NOMAD NALA, SAHRA SOUDI, NOORIA ALAM
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SUNDAY, JUNE 15
Cinecycle. 129 Spadina Avenue.5:00 PM: PROGRAMMING PALESTINE: THE CULTURE SECTOR'S CONTAINMENT OF REVOLUTIONARY AESTHETICS
The past year has seen a welcome influx of Palestinian programming in arts spaces and institutions. On the other hand, the culture sector plays a unique role in the capture and containment of revolutionary politics and aesthetics. What is the state of cultural organizing, and how do we avoid this trend towards memorialization and depoliticization?
Kaleem Hawa and Muhammad Nour El-Khairy in conversation with Toleen Touq.
7:00 PM: FILM SCREENING: Regards Palestiniens program
Line-up TBA, introduced and programmed by Muhammad Nour El-Khairy
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ALL WEEKEND
DRIVING IN PALESTINE
Rehab Nazzal's photo project on the politics of surveillance and mobility in contemporary Palestine will be on display and available for distribution at venues throughout the weekend, for postering/wheatpasting purposes. Printing and posters provided by Ottawa's SAW Centre.
Event/Accessibility Details
Facemasks are strongly recommended at all indoor events; KN95 masks & sanitizer provided. All donations are going towards venue and equipment costs and future organizing.
DONATIONS APPRECIATED!
Interac / e-transfer: toronto@wawog.com
Subject line: NAITA
Password: choose “naitafest”
Venues
It's OK* Studios. 468 Queen Street West, Ground level and bathroom are accessible. Performances will be on the first floor. There is a second story up a flight of stairs.
BAAA! (Back Alley for Art & Architecture.) 300 Campbell Avenue, Suite 114. Accessible laneway access, unfortunately no accessible washrooms - please reach out if you have any accessibility needs.
Cinecycle. 129 Spadina Avenue, entrance behind the old coach house on the east side between Richmond St W and Adelaide St W. Accessible rear entrance (parking lot at 401 Richmond building, enter on Richmond, first alley west of Peter Street, drive west on south wall of building) with 2 washrooms, 1 of which is accessible.
PRESS KIT:
SELECTED PRESS:
- Inside the campaign that upended CanLit’s ties to Scotiabank and Israeli arms
- Artists protest at Toronto Arts Foundation gala over funding from Israeli real estate company’s charitable foundation
- Fondation Azrieli : des artistes dénoncent des financements sionistes
- “We can throw a wrench into the war machine”: Why pro-Palestine Canadian authors are boycotting the Giller Prize
- The Giller Prize and the ‘Indigo 11’