STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

17
Street Artists in Europe
performing rights, reviews the principal characteristics in several European countries such as
Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom as well as the United States.
2.5.2. The creation of a nomadic school
In France, the FAI AR (Advanced Itinerant Learning Programme for Street Arts) is based on the
principle of the nomadic school and exists thanks to privileged partnerships with venues and
production centres in France and elsewhere in Europe. This training (18 months, no age limits
and free) aims to consider the main resources favourable to artistic creation in public areas. This
training bases its pedagogical construction on meeting active artists and companies, on
multidisciplinary and professional artistic openness (philosophers, town planners, etc.). This
training revolves around three main axes: the collective fundamentals, the individual adventures
and a personal artistic project.
2.6. Conclusions and problems raised
Like most artists, street artists suffer from irregular and unpredictable incomes and their
unremunerated work when devoted to research and development. Moreover, the fact of
producing prototypical works also results in questions about social security and taxation that
legal structures generally ignore. The development of training, as the establishment of the FAI
AR to support their transmission of knowledge, which is real in the companies but primarily
informal, could help to enhance the sector.
The structuring of the profession through federations and networks on a European scale attests
to the real maturing of street artists, permitting greater collaboration between artists and better
representation in terms of public authorities.
As was pointed out in the Study on impediments to mobility in the European Union live
performance sector 30 by Pearle*, mobility in the European Union requires live performance
organisations to have ‘a sound knowledge of the legislation and regulations of more than one
European Union country’, especially concerning visas and work, social security regulations,
taxation and in particular bilateral agreements on double taxation and national rules on
withholding taxes and value-added tax (VAT) 31 .
Also the employment status of the performers has a huge influence on the general situation of
the workers; live performance workers in fact often have several working statuses at the same
time, in particular in a context of mobility. Each area seems to be affected by the same
problems: European Union and national regulations are too different and ill-adapted; national
administrative procedures are complex, time-consuming, incoherent and expensive; information
about applicable regulations and procedures is insufficient; financing and funding are
problematic.
The administrative workload required avoiding double taxation and excessive taxation clearly
discourages artists and companies from being mobile or from hosting mobile organisations.
Festivals therefore often have to hire professionals who deal with this issue, thus adding other
30
Poláček, R., Study on impediments to mobility in the European Union live performance sector, Pearle*, January
2007.
31
For a survey of problems, different taxation systems in Europe and useful resources to keep up-to-date, see also
Tax and social security. A basic guide for artists and cultural operators in Europe, by Judith Staines, IETM,
March 2004.
PE 375.307