Strengthening the working conditions and fair payment for visual artists
International Artists Association (IAA) Europe’s Strategic Goals for the European Parliament Election
Read the goals (PDF)
Art is a basic human right and one of the essential services that the society must provide to its citizens. Art is a form and platform of critical discussion that maintains and improves democracy. Art has a central and overarching role in society, and that all citizens should have the opportunity to experience and practice art regardless of place of residence, social and economic background. Professional artists must be able to make a living by what they create. Remunerating visual artists and reducing barriers to mobility is an investment into the future of our societies, and into the social, cultural and economic development of the EU countries.
Goal 1: Strengthening the role of art and culture in society
● 2% of state government budgets spent on arts and culture.
● The arts to be accessible to all people and a culturally diverse art world.
● Freedom of artistic expression and the right to cultural diversity safeguarded.
Goal 2: Fair remunerations for artists
● Visual artists to receive fair remuneration for exhibiting their work in publicly funded exhibition spaces (with a corresponding increase in budgets to publicly-funded exhibiting institutions).
● Fair remuneration to mean both an Exhibition Participation Fee as compensation to visual
artists for the work and administration invested in creating content for exhibitions, as well as an Exhibition Rights Remuneration (a copyright) for the display of artworks in the artist’s possession, while the artist is not able to dispose of the artwork during the exhibition period – be it through copyright or soft law agreements.
Goal 3: Ensuring and protecting copyrights in the digital era
● Copyright laws to protect the material and intellectual rights of artists. Visual artists to receive fair remuneration also for the digital distribution and sharing of
their works.
● Copyright legislation must respond to the challenges brought by artificial intelligence. Artists’ rights must be protected, for example, in the development of generative artificial intelligence.
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IAA Europe is one of the five cultural regions of the International Association of Art (IAA), the largest international non-governmental association of visual artists, with more than 100 member organizations worldwide. The Association recognises five cultural regions: Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Africa, and the Arab States. The IAA supports international cooperation and aims to improve the economic legal and social position of artists on national and international level. It strives to facilitate the creation of visual artworks in a spirit of universal humanism in communities throughout the world.