STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

Street Artists in Europe
into account in most legislation and increases the complexity and cost of social security
contributions without raising the level of social security benefits.
Subordination, which characterises the existence of an employment contract, is a notion that is
extremely difficult to identify in the artistic sector, particularly because of the nature of the
work, plunging artists and their potential employers into the greatest of legal uncertainties.
Faced with this complexity, there is a great deal of pressure on artists, who are under a link of
subordination, to become self-employed (up to 70 or 80% in Poland) or to set up microcompanies
which means that employers do not pay their share of the salaried workers’ social
security contributions (Belgium, France, Hungary) 122 .
Sometimes, because of the more favourable tax status of unsalaried workers and the relatively
low level of compulsory social security contributions (8%), artists adopt the status of an
unsalaried worker even though it does not reflect their legal reality (especially in the United
Kingdom, where their rate reached 57% in 2001 for actors, variety and stage artists and film
directors 123 ). Many are then forced to carry out additional salaried activities outside the artistic
sector (60%) 124 . Quite often, engagement contracts are not in writing, in contravention of law
(Spain, Greece), and social security legislation is not always complied with (Belgium, France,
new European Union Member States).
3. Artistic teams
3.1. Motivation
There has so far been no research into the legal aspects of street arts in particular. It is therefore
difficult at the moment to identify the precise characteristics of this sector or to make
comparisons between countries. We can only compare the practice of street artists in the labour
market with the practice of artists in general.
Despite the fact that creative activities are increasingly seen as entrepreneurial activities which
contribute to economic growth, the working practices and motivations of artists must
nonetheless be considered ‘atypical’ 125 in many respects:
• motivation: they do not undertake artistic projects in order to avoid unemployment or
simply to earn money; their main motivation is to create;
• work structures (multi-activity): most creative artists readily switch from self-employed
to employed status; they may also be heads of companies or civil servants, or combine
more than one role at a time;
• geographical mobility: artists, more than any other workers, have to travel all over
Europe and even the world if they wish to be famous and successful and thus better paid;
122 Polacek, Richard, Study Relating to the Various Regimes of Employment and Social Protection of Workers in
the European Media, Arts and Entertainment Sector in Five Applicant Countries: Czech Republic, Hungary,
Poland, Slovakia and Sloven, op. cit.
123 The Creative Industries, op. cit.
124 Staines, Judith, From Pillar to Post, op. cit.
125 McAndrew, Claire, Artists, taxes and benefits – an international review, London: Arts Council of England,
2002. Capiau, Suzanne, La création d’un environnement juridique et économique approprié pour les activités
artistiques – nécessité et urgence d’une intervention publique, produit sur demande du Conseil d’Europe,
Strasbourg, 2000. Menger, Pierre-Michel, Portrait de l’artist en travailleur. Paris, Seuil (La République des
idées), 2003.
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PE 375.307