The Government promises two important advances in the Artist Statute for April

The first phase for the reform of the Artist's Statute already has a date: April 1. The Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, announced it at a press conference after his meeting with José Luis Escriva, Minister of Social Security. "The revision of the current norm, which is from 1985 and no longer adjusts to the reality of the sector, will be carried out in two phases," the Culture spokesman announced.

The first of them will reach the Council of Ministers at the end of March in the form of a Royal Decree and includes "two very important novelties". They have highlighted a new temporary employment contract that is adjusted to the intermittence of the sector and the inclusion in the regulations of technicians and assistants of public shows, which in the current text are marginalized.

The text of the employment contract is being drafted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy. It is a document that responds to one of the great challenges of the Artist's Statute: the guarantee of indefinite contracts for artists and technicians with a stable dedication to cultural activity and better conditions for those who work seasonally. In an interview with this newspaperIceta acknowledged that neither labor law nor Social Security law are prepared for intermittence, "but for the worker of a screw factory who entered a company and ended up retired from it."

📹@miqueliceta presents alongside @joseluisescriva the progress of #ArtistStatute:

🔹 Fixed-term artistic employment contract

🔹 Extends protection to #technicians and #auxiliaries of the #shows public pic.twitter.com/Vy4Zg5CxEI

– Ministry of Culture and Sports (@culturagob) March 10, 2022

The reform also addresses the expansion of the concept "artists in public shows", which had become obsolete. New ways of making, producing and presenting artistic work that are shown on social networks, streaming channels, video platforms or online content will now be taken into account.

Retirement will be compatible with copyright

After this first phase, "other aspects of the Artist's Statute will be addressed and reformed," said the spokesman for Culture. Among them, the one that they have announced jointly with the Ministry of Social Security is that at last the retirement pension and copyright for artistic production can be reconciled. Compatibility for recipients of non-contributory pensions will also be considered.

"That was an injustice, because copyrights have been generated by a creative activity that is valid until the work or the author or their descendants disappear. It has been made compatible, but we still have some fringe in terms of non-contributory pensions and we have creators who currently depend on them," Iceta said in the interview.

‼️ The Government advances in the development of the #ArtistStatute

✔️ The pension of #retirement and artistic activity that generates intellectual property rights
✔️Temporary artistic employment contract adapted to your uniquenesshttps://t.co/caOkmPwAT7 pic.twitter.com/aSwtDF3dYJ

— Ministry of Inclusion Social Security Migration (@inclusiongob) March 10, 2022

José Luis Escrivá has highlighted that for culture professionals, the disincentive will not apply to very short-term contracts, again due to their intermittent nature. "They will be exempt from this disincentive that we have included in the labor reform for contracts that last less than 30 days," he has promised.

The Ministry of Social Security also wants to include a measure for the self-employed in the artistic sector: “We are going to study a reduced contribution for professionals in the group who have very low incomes. We are aware of the instability and uncertainty that they may have to pay the installments without knowing the activity they will have for a month."

The report on the Statute of the Artist approved by the Congress of Deputies in 2018 established 57 specific measures, of which 38 have already been agreed with the cultural sectors. "Now the most important thing remains, that they begin to arrive at the Cortes. And we already know that they will do so soon," Iceta has promised.

These are the advances of the reform of a Statute that still has a lot of work ahead and two more phases, according to Miquel Iceta at the time. "The third has to do with teaching: we have a pending issue for a long time, which is the reinforcement of artistic education. And the fourth is taxation: there are some pending issues such as the Patronage Law and favoring contributions from the private sector to cultural activity, that have a favorable tax treatment and, in general, deal with taxation on all artistic, creative and cultural activities".