Author: itigermany

As part of the 2023-2026 EU Work Plan for Culture, the This Is How We Work platform on the status and working conditions of artists and cultural professionals has been launched. The creation of this knowledge resource is based on the work of the Open Method Coordination Group, which published its report with recommendations on the status and working conditions of artists and cultural and creative professionals last year.

The platform is part of the Creatives Unite portal and gives access to status-quo snapshots on various aspects of artists’ working conditions in all 27 countries of the EU: regulatory status, social security, labour relations, learning and skills, and artistic freedom.  For the first time, the conditions in up to three countries can be directly compared.

In the future the platform will host analytical pieces and case studies on the topic, produced with the help of its key per-country material and external contributions.

This Is How We Work

Culture Action Europe has started a research project on the state of culture in Europe. The project aims to create a comprehensive snapshot of cultural policies in Europe, the evolution of the EU’s cultural actions in recent years, priorities of national and EU cultural policymakers, and new directions for advocacy and policy.

The State of Culture 2024 Report is set to be published in the autumn of 2024.

The EU Parliament has adopted the resolution of 21 November 2023 with recommendations to the Commission on an EU framework for the social and professional situation of artists and workers in the cultural and creative sectors (CCS).

Concerning the “Status of the Artists” the resolution idetifies “the lack of a definition of CCS professionals and of recognition of the specificities of their working conditions as one of the main factors leading to the weak social protection coverage of CCS professionals.

“The resolution encourages explicitly the Commission and the Member States “to strengthen existing or, where not in place, set up new, adequately funded mobility information points as one-stop shops that are easily accessible in all EU languages and will help CCS professionals gather all relevant sectoral information concerning their working conditions, mobility, fiscality and social protection benefits”.

Over the last six months, through the EU-funded MIP Amplifier project, On The Move has worked with two members of the existing Mobility Info Point network – Touring Artists (ITI Germany) and Motovila Slovenia – on a project aimed at amplifying the actions of Mobility Info Points.

European Parliament resolution of 21 November 2023

Beyond the Obvious, CAE’s annual conference, took place in Elefsina (Greece), European Capital of Culture for 2023, under the title “Handle With Care: Culture for Social Well-being”. From June 6-10, the conference opened the floor to exploration and dialogue on the concept of care and the working conditions in the cultural and creative sectors. Participatory discussions – circles of care – addressed topics of Care and Mental Health, Care and Youth, Communities of Care, Curating Care, Care for Culture (and cultural workers), Care for Climate, Care for Commons and Care and Borders. The outcomes of these circles resulted in a co-written document: the “Elefsina Manifesto | Handle with Care: Envisioning a Future of Care” See recap and BTO website for reports and documents.

BTO also hosted the final conference of CAE’s 2-year project CultureForHealth (final report available here, presentation of six pilot projects).

CAE announces that the long-awaited recommendations to the Commission on an EU framework for the social and professional situation of artists and workers in the cultural and creative sectors have been published. The draft report covers several areas of relevance, from fair remuneration to better coordinated social security, from education and training to prevention of harassment and discrimination, from digital challenges (including AI) to artistic freedom. CAE’s permanent Working Group on Working Conditions will present recommendations to improve the draft report.

14 countries out of 261 – 53% of the total – have included culture in their
NRRPs. The analysis stemming from this overview proves that at least 2% in the EU26 – i.e., around 12 billion euros – has been mobilised for culture.

In a public online event on December 9th, Culture Action Europe presented an overview of the place of culture in the National  Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) of the Member States of the European Union. The publication is a part of the #CulturalDealEU campaign and backed by the European Parliament, to specifically earmark at the very least 2% of each NRRP for culture. Roughly half of the remaining Member States have not featured any specific interventions for culture in their NRRPs. Several of them, from Germany to Sweden, from Luxembourg to Denmark, have nonetheless put forward national schemes to sustain the cultural and creative sectors. 

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