Adriana Moscoso del Prado: “The Artist’s Statute means that, for the first time in Spain, a package of specific regulatory frameworks for cultural activity is created, which means finally assuming the cultural exception”

• The Director General of Cultural Industries, Intellectual Property and Cooperation of the Government of Spain, Adriana Moscoso del Prado, explained to cultural agents the news about the Artist’s Statute and clarified doubts about this initiative during a day held in Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea
• The Statute of the Artist is a commitment of the Government of Spain derived from the Report that the Congress of Deputies approved unanimously in 2018. It will adapt the fiscal, labor, social security or educational regulations to the uniqueness of the professionals of the culture, marked by intermittence work

The general director of Cultural Industries, Intellectual Property and Cooperation of the Ministry of Culture and Sport, Adriana Moscoso del Prado, participated today in a meeting with representatives of the groups of people dedicated to artistic activities to inform them about the progress in the development of the Statute of the Artist. In his speech, he highlighted measures such as the unemployment benefit, the fixed-term contract adapted to intermittence or the compatibility of artistic activity with the retirement pension and the perception of intellectual property rights, among others.

The information day, which has been organized by the Department of Culture of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the Government Delegation in the Basque Country, has served to clarify doubts for cultural agents, to check how what has been done so far is working and also what remains to be done. The meeting was held at the Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, in Donostia, and was attended by more than 100 representatives of the sector.

The Statute of the Artist, one of the reforms included in Component 24 of the Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience, is a set of legislative reforms aimed at adapting the fiscal, labor, social security or educational regulations to the uniqueness of the professionals of the culture, marked by labor intermittence.

The implementation of these actions is carried out by an Interministerial Commission constituted in 2021, organized in working groups and with the active participation of the cultural sector itself.

The Council of Ministers on January 10 approved, on the proposal of the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration and the Ministry of Culture and Sport, one of the most relevant packages in terms of social protection for the collective. This is the first special unemployment benefit for the cultural and artistic sector, which can also be accessed by technical and auxiliary staff.

According to Moscoso del Prado, “more than eighty meetings of the working groups have been held, which have established a dynamic of work and dialogue between the Administration and civil society that is very enriching and that has undoubtedly been key to the success of the reforms achieved. It has been a fruitful, frank dialogue and one of total transparency and mutual trust. The Artist’s Statute means that, for the first time in Spain, a package of specific regulatory frameworks for cultural activity is created, which means finally assuming the cultural exception.”

The government delegate in the Basque Country, Denis Itxaso, has emphasized that the working conditions of creators must be taken care of and protected because “they work in a profession as necessary as any other. It is an essential guild that has always been important and that, now. It is more necessary than ever.”