Status of the Artist in Canada: An Update on the 30th Anniversary of the UNESCO Recommendation Concerning the Status of the Artist

Garry Neil

Sep­tem­ber 2010

Sta­tus of the Artist describes a cat­e­gory of leg­is­la­tion and other pub­lic poli­cies directed at improv­ing the eco­nomic and social sta­tus of pro­fes­sional artists.

The con­cept has two components.

• The impor­tant role that artists play in every human soci­ety should be acknowledged.

• Gov­ern­ment leg­is­la­tion and pro­grams should encour­age cre­ative expres­sion and ensure equi­table treat­ment for artists by respond­ing to

the atyp­i­cal man­ner in which they work.

Sta­tus of the Artist was first used in a process launched by the United Nations Edu­ca­tional, Sci­en­tific and Cul­tural Orga­ni­za­tion that cul­mi­nated in 1980 in Bel­grade, when the Gen­eral Con­fer­ence adopted the Rec­om­men­da­tion con­cern­ing the Sta­tus of the Artist. This was the end of a process of con­sul­ta­tion with civil soci­ety and dis­cus­sion among gov­ern­ments about issues of crit­i­cal impor­tance to the world’s artists and cre­ators. The 1980 Rec­om­men­da­tion is com­pre­hen­sive in its sur­vey of issues and con­tains sub­stan­tive rec­om­men­da­tions to gov­ern­ments for con­crete actions to sup­port artists.

The Rec­om­men­da­tion defines “sta­tus” as sig­ni­fy­ing “on the one hand, the regard accorded to artists […] in a soci­ety, on the basis of the impor­tance attrib­uted to the part they are called upon to play therein and, on the other hand, recog­ni­tion of the lib­er­ties and rights, includ­ing­moral, eco­nomic and social rights, with par­tic­u­lar ref­er­ence to income and social secu­rity, which artists should enjoy.” It then addresses issues and rec­om­mends gov­ern­ment actions on the following:

• Employ­ment, work­ing and liv­ing con­di­tions of artists.

• Recog­ni­tion of the rights of their pro­fes­sional and union organizations.

• Social sta­tus, includ­ing mea­sures to ensure equiv­a­lent sta­tus to other work­ers in areas

such as health and insurance.

• Pro­tec­tion of free­dom of expres­sion and pro­tec­tion of intel­lec­tual prop­erty rights.

• The edu­ca­tion and train­ing of artists.

• The impor­tance of arts education.

Sta­tus of the Artist describes a cat­e­gory of leg­is­la­tion and other pub­lic poli­cies directed at improv­ing the eco­nomic and social sta­tus of pro­fes­sional artists. The con­cept has three components.

• The impor­tant role that artists play in every human soci­ety should be acknowledged.

• Gov­ern­ment leg­is­la­tion and pro­grams should encour­age cre­ative expres­sion and ensure equi­table treat­ment for artists by respond­ing to the atyp­i­cal man­ner in which they work.

• Mea­sures related to income, sup­port dur­ing peri­ods of unem­ploy­ment, and retire­ment issues.

 

The UNESCO Rec­om­men­da­tion was embraced by artists and their asso­ci­a­tions, who wel­comed the depth of the recog­ni­tion and scope of the rec­om­men­da­tions. They left Bel­grade with high hopes that gov­ern­ments around the world would act on the issues in the com­ing years.

 

This update on Sta­tus of the Artist will explore the impact of Sta­tus of the Artist leg­is­la­tion on artists in Canada by exam­in­ing fed­eral and provin­cial fac­tors.  The study will also dis­cuss con­tem­po­rary issues that have affected the wel­fare of artists in Canada, such as: tax­a­tion, employ­ment insur­ance, copy­right leg­is­la­tion, and seniors. Finally, the paper will look at inter­na­tional com­par­isons using case stud­ies to deter­mine the state of sta­tus of the artist leg­is­la­tion abroad.

 

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