Pro-Palestinian Cultural Workers Call for Strike Over US Ambassador’s Visit to Venice

The cultural activist group that led a historic strike and rally at this year’s Venice Biennale over Israel’s inclusion in the international exhibition has called for a mass mobilization on July 17, when the US Ambassador to Italy, Tilman Fertitta, is scheduled to arrive in Venice.

The group, Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA), announced the action in an Instagram post published today, inviting supporters to gather at 4 p.m. at Campo San Zaccaria, a square in central Venice just steps from the Church of San Zaccaria, where Fertitta’s yacht is expected to dock. In addition to being an ambassador, Fetitta is also the largest shareholder of Wynn Resorts and the cousin of brothers Frank J. Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta, two of the world’s top art collectors.

The statement reiterated ANGA’s opposition to US involvement in Palestine, writing that the US “continues to arm, finance and politically shield Israel’s genocide in Palestine.” (An independent United Nations commission has characterized Israel’s actions in Palestine as genocide.)

“For us, this is not a separate struggle. It is part of the same political trajectory that has connected the strikes for Palestine in the autumn of 2025, the mobilizations in support of the Freedom Flotilla, and our campaign to boycott the Genocide Pavilion at the Venice Biennale,” the statement reads.

ANGA is an international coalition of artists, curators, writers, and cultural workers that formed in early 2024 in opposition to Israel’s participation in that year’s Venice Biennale. The group carried its campaign into the following edition of the Biennale, culminating in a 24-hour strike at the prestigious event: thousands of cultural workers marched through the streets of Venice on May 8, the eve of its public opening. 

ANGA reported that more than 20 national pavilions in the Giardini partially closed in response to the strike, while others remained closed for the entire day, including the high-profile Austrian and Japanese pavilions. The strike followed an artist-led demonstration staged on May 5, during the event’s professional pre-opening. Titled “Solidarity Drone Chorus,” the action brought together some 60 artists at the entrance to the Giardini to hum “Drone Song,” a viral composition by Gazan composer and music teacher Ahmed “Muin” Abu Amsha, in an effort to “sonically occupy space,” according to a press statement.

Many of the participating artists were among the nearly 200 artists, curators, and arts workers associated with this year’s Biennale who signed an open letter published by ANGA in March calling for Israel’s exclusion. 

Artist Carolina Caycedo, who organized the action, told ARTnews at the time that it was “a way for us to show our discontent and our disgust with the politics that happen underneath the Biennale, and the refusal of the Biennale to be held accountable.” She added that the group’s ultimate goal was “uplifting the voices of Palestinian artists and centering them in the conversation.”

ANGA echoed the sentiment in today’s announcement: “From the boycott of the Genocide Pavilion to the protest against Fertitta, our message remains the same: no business as usual with genocide.”