The cabinet on Friday approved a bill for the creation of a registry of artists and art sponsors and associations that will go to the House for a vote shortly.

The legal status, which has long been a demand of artists, has been knocking around since 2009.

In her statements after the cabinet meeting, Deputy Minister of Culture Vasiliki Kassianidou said the purpose of the bill was to define the framework and criteria for granting the status of “artist” to cultural creators and professionals in the creative industries.

An important provision of the bill is also the provision and institutionalisation of artistic sponsorship for self-employed artists, who often have to deal with fluctuations in their annual income and in labour relations.

The issue was further highlighted during Covid when there was no real mechanism to support professional artists under compensatory measures offered to businesses and the self-employed due to the pandemic.

The deputy minister said the bill institutionalises a grant for self-employed artists, which will amount to 30 per cent of the contribution paid by an artist as a self-employed person to the social insurance fund and to Gesy.

“This grant is only addressed to individuals who duly meet the strict conditions set out in the law, which are recorded in the bill,” said Kassianidou.

She said the bill had been put up for public consultation between April 15 and May 27, 2024 on the e-consultation platform.

“With the end of the deadline, in-person meetings were also held with representatives of organised arts and culture bodies on July 16 and 23 in the presence of myself, the law commissioner and a representative of the social insurance service, with the aim of further explaining the bill, exchanging views and concerns,” she said.

Subsequently, during the legal review, changes and corrections were made based on the comments of the attorney-general’s office in cooperation with all stakeholders.

Kassianidou said that modern creators and those working in the creative industries were human resources that shape the modern culture of the country and contributed to the cultural evolution of society and to the formation of its identity.

Artists also contribute to the economic development of the country on multiple levels, she added “a fact that has not yet received the wide recognition it deserves”.

The deputy minister said efforts to establish the “status of the artist” began as early as 2009.  She said she hoped the House would push the bill through quickly.

In order to be registered as an artist, a person must meet at least three of ten conditions in the bill.

In the case of young artists – under 30 years of age – at least two criteria must be met.

For the first six months of implementation, with the aim of facilitating the registration process, provision is made for the automatic registration in the registry of people who practice artistic activity and are already registered with an artists’ association that is registered on the artists’ associations registry.