Romania commits to protect and promote the rights of artists
“Culture is work, art is work”.
These were the concluding words of Ms. Alis Vasile, a Romanian cultural policy expert, at the online launch of the UNESCO-Aschberg project in Romania on 6 October 2022. In partnership with the Ministry of Culture of Romania and in cooperation with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, Romania will receive expert support from the UNESCO-Aschberg programme to design a new law on the status of the artist and culture professionals in the country.
Artists and culture professionals make vital contributions to society. Yet, they often work in precarious conditions, without adequate legal and professional status, fair remuneration, social safety nets, adapted tax conditions, mobility, or the capacity to unionize and exercise their freedom of expression.
As emphasized by Ms. Milena Dragićević Šešic, a member of the EU/UNESCO Expert Facility who will provide technical assistance to Romania: “Artistic labour is underestimated. Artists are expected to work out of enthusiasm, and often have to jump from project to project in what some people call projectariat.”
The precarious conditions of artists and culture professionals are often due to the lack of an enabling legal environment that recognizes and addresses the specificities of their work and that grants them the same rights as other professional categories, such as social security, unemployment benefits or a pension. Ms Vesna Čopič, another member of the EU/UNESCO Expert Facility who will be working on this project in Romania, noted that recognizing the specific status of artists and culture professionals does not aim to grant artists privileges, but rather aims to recognize the atypical nature of artistic and cultural work: “It is not about special treatment”, she added, “it is about equal treatment.”
By creating an appropriate legal environment that promotes and protects artists’ social and economic rights, States support the development of cultural and creative industries in a concrete and sustainable manner, promoting both the creative economy and cultural diversity. Concrete investments in the Status of the Artist aim to benefit all sectors of society, but especially women, youth, and other vulnerable groups.
This project in Romania is all the more relevant since it launched just days after MONDIACULT 2022 where 150 States unanimously adopted a historic Declaration that recognizes culture as a global public good. The Declaration calls for the strengthening of the economic and social rights of artists, culture professionals and practitioners, the facilitation of their mobility and upholding of their status, by reinforcing intellectual property, protecting and promoting artistic freedom and freedom of expression.
Romania is one of the twelve beneficiary countries of the 2021 UNESCO-Aschberg call for projects aimed at supporting UNESCO Member States in the design of new regulatory frameworks to protect and promote artistic freedom including the status of the artist and culture professionals. The other beneficiary Member States are: Cabo Verde, Costa Rica, Gambia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Palestine, Peru, Seychelles, Tunisia and Uganda.
UNESCO would like to thank the Kingdom of Norway for its generous financial contribution to the UNESCO-Aschberg programme which makes this technical assistance possible.