WHAT WE HAVE DONE TO DATE

Since March 2021, on the invitation of the VII Commission and XI Senate Commission, AWI has been putting forward proposals to modify and integrate the consolidation act of the Ddl “Discipline of work in the artistic and creative sectors” - AA.SS. 2039, 2090, 2127, 2218” (previously Ddl 2127 “Provisions on the recognition of the professional figure of the artist and on the cultural sector” and Ddl 2039 “Social Statute of workers in the creative sector, of theatre and performative arts. 

The proposals are directed to the inclusion of visual artists and the specificities of their activities and work in the texts of the Ddl, where they were completely absent. 

Read the second round of proposed changes and additions (June 2021)

AWI - Art Workers Italia, in collaboration with the Department of Law - School of Law, University of Milano-Bicocca, is pleased to present the results of ART WORKERS (IN) ITALIA, the first investigation on labour in the field of contemporary art on a national level on the 25th March 2022 between 14:30 and 18:30. Throughout the day, two resources put together by AWI to protect art workers will be presented for the first time: a Guide on the recommended minimum wages for some of the main professions in the art world, and Contract templates designed specifically for artists. 

Friday 25th March from 14:30 to 18:30 - at the Università Bicocca, Aula Martini, Milano

DOWNLOAD THE PRESS RELEASE
FACEBOOK EVENT

The proposal, which differs from the one currently being discussed (Proposal 3179, “Provision regarding the equal compensation of professional services”), is aimed at all self-employed professionals, regarding the obvious imbalance of contractual power with the employer. The proposal puts forward a clear outline (from the beginning) of measures to protect its effective implementation. Read the CS.

Art Workers Italia sent to the Ministry of Culture and the representatives of the relevant institutions an open letter in response to the request for intervention that the association received from numerous professionals in the sector. The text states the opposition to the double appointment of  Gian Maria Tosatti to represent Italy at the next Venice Biennale while simultaneously taking the role of Artistic Director of La Quadriennale di Roma.

The letter, which aimed to highlight the issues of appointing both offices to the same person, was later published as a petition on change.org and soon reached hundreds of signatures.

Since its foundation, AWI has felt the need to have concrete data on the working conditions in the sector from a social, contractual and legal point of view. For this reason, we started a collaboration with ACTA which supported us in drawing up a questionnaire to provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of work in contemporary art. The first reading of the data collected through the survey can be found HERE and on AWI's social media channels. A more in-depth report will be published soon.

On the invitation of AMACI – the Association of Italian Contemporary Art Museums, AWI is collaborating with the association on the integration and expansion of the AMACI Vademecum in the museum practices of 2017. AWI’s additions propose the need to define recommendations of good practices instead of a simple recording of current museum practices; the need to refer to and recommend the use of appropriate contracts, to be adopted as preventative measures when conducting the assignment, in all professional relations between the museum institution and art workers; the need to introduce a distinction between fee (compensation) and production, where by fee we mean the payment that the artist receives for their  professional service, distinct from the costs of production and transport of the work/project, as well as from travel expenses, per day and accommodation, and to integrate fair and minimum compensation instead of exclusively maximum values; the need to refer to existing ethical guidelines (ICOM, UNESCO, European Commission, Fair Practice Code, etc.); the need to refer to the principles of equality, inclusiveness and transparency, according to an egalitarian horizon for all marginalised and racialized subjects.

AWI organised three webinars for members: "DO YOU WELFARE?", held by Anna Soru (ACTA) on welfare in Italy and reform proposals; "RUNTS IN WHAT SENSE?", held by Sergio Conte on the Single National Register of the Third Sector and its reform; "DID YOU SAY CONTRACT?" held by Alessandra Donati and Franco Broccardi on contracts in the contemporary art sector.

A members only area will soon be available to watch the webinars.

AWI is among the 47 associations that participated in Voices of Culture, a platform for dialogue and discussion made available by the European Union to representatives of the cultural sector. The topics discussed, included in the final report, focus on three macro areas: income and the legal status of artists and cultural and creative workers; mobility of artists and cultural workers; artistic freedom and freedom of expression.

Read the final report on "Legal status and working conditions of artists and cultural and creative workers"

AWI participates in the How We Work meeting with Tiphanie Blanc at the Istituto Svizzero, Milan.

AWI is a mentor to the FEMINIST FUTURES' School organized by the European network APAP – advancing performing arts project in Centrale Fies, Dro.

AWI participates in the conference United we bargain, divided we beg organised by the Artists’ Association of Croatia in Zagreb.

AWI participated in the working group Be Smart, Be equal. Challenges, paradoxes and exchange: gender equality in the visual arts organised by the Norwegian, Danish and Swedish Embassies in Rome.

AWI participated in the round table on tax breaks and remuneration of artists Art-Field Battlefield organised by ULUS, the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia.

In the Culture Commission of the Lombardy Region, some of the proposals presented by AWI at the hearing on 26 May 2021 were  approved and officially integrated into the annual operational plan for culture 2021. Lombardy Region is committed to: providing support and rewards for the production of works by emerging artists active in the area through a program of regional acquisitions; promoting the recovery of the production processes of tangible and intangible works, promoting and disseminating Law 717/49, known as the "2% law", which implements the obligation to carry out artistic interventions for all new public buildings; stipulating agreements for the free use of exhibition spaces inside the public buildings of the Lombardy Region. AWI was invited to continue in the coming months to collaborate with the commission, to propose fair methods and measures for the arrangement of these schemes.

One year after the publication of its Manifesto, AWI organised a day dedicated to the contemporary art sector at the Piccolo Teatro Aperto in Milan. The day began with a meeting to raise awareness of work in contemporary art, facilitated by the radio presenter Ira Rubini, in which artists, curators, technicians, art writers, employees and / or collaborators in institutions in Milan discussed how the specificities of their professions results in a constant difficulty to receive civil, legal and fiscal recognition of one's work. The national assembly of Art Workers Italia is followed by a conversation with Senator Roberto Rampi, the director of the Culture Department of the Municipality of Milan Marco Minoja and the AWI consultants, the lawyer Alessandra Donati and the accountant Franco Broccardi. The assembly was an opportunity to discuss the claims put forward by AWI to the Ministry of Culture on the lack of improvements for the sector, the use of the resources of the Recovery Fund and the professional recognition of contemporary art workers; to present the first data obtained from the sector survey of AWI and ACTA; to submit to Senator Rampi the first proposals for AWI’s amendments to the Ddl  2127 – Provisions on the recognition of artists and workers in the creative sector.

The images of the day will be published soon.

AWI participated in marches across several Italian cities alongside entertainment and cultural workers to protest the lack of protections and social shock absorbers during the lockdown and request the opening of an inter ministerial dialogue forum. They also participated in the month-long occupation of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan and in the Cultural Parliament of the Piccolo Teatro Aperto.

Images of the protest will be published soon.

AWI participated in the "Permanent Forum for Workers in Institutes and Places of Culture" organised by the Ministry of Culture.

AWI coordinated the "Culture and Entertainment" table of the "Innamorati di Milano" project together with Luca Benetta.

AWI participated in WHO'S ART FOR? #2 | New organisational models against cultural precarity as part of R-set / Tools for cultural workers, Organised by Impasse, supported by the General Directorate for Education, Research and Cultural Institutes – Service II "Cultural Institutes" of MiBACT and the Santagata Foundation for the Economy of Culture.

Watch the webinar

AWI develops HYPERUNIONISATION, an online platform for the promotion of a transnational network of groups, institutions and organisations dealing with the rights of cultural workers in Europe and worldwide. The project is supported by the European Cultural Foundation and was founded by SMART
SMART (Société Mutuelle pour Artistes).

Read more about Hyperunionisation

AWI took part in the symposium "After the Pandemic" organised by Lateral North, Glasgow, on 13/11/2020.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/after-the-pandemic-symposium-tickets-127311214269#

AWI participated in the Culture Salon 1 – Creative Independents: Securing Our Future organised by the British Council.

Watch the roundtable

AWI begins to officially seek the advice of Prof. Alessandra Donati and Dr. Franco Broccardi. Alessandra Donati provides out-of-court consultations on civil, commercial and copyright and intellectual property law. Franco Broccardi advises on accounting, administrative and fiscal matters. During  2021, the collaboration involved the preparation of three models of contracts for artists and art workers, the drafting of a glossary of technical terms and a series of summary sheets ("FAQ WORK") concerning the legal and fiscal tools already existing available to art workers.

AWI participated in the meeting Come Stiamo in the program of the Festival Santarcangelo dei Teatri, 16/9/2020

https://fb.watch/1zKzztD1zT/

AWI took part in the Venice Climate Camp, 8-12/9/2020

https://www.veniceclimatecamp.com/it/

AWI was established as an association with the Revenue Agency of Turin. The association’s rule book was drawn up with the advice and collaboration of Prof. Alessandra Donati and Dr. Franco Broccardi.

Leggi lo statuto dell’associazione

AWI participated in A Unification of Multitudes: Artist Workers Italia and Ice Cream Café, organised by Garage Museum, Moscow.

AWI took part in CHI C’È C’È! Mittwochs in der WS Qualcosa si muove: AWI + Lavorator_della Danza organised da Weigh Station, Bolzano

https://weighstation.eu/events/chi-ce-ce-mittwochs-der-ws-13/

AWI participated in What We Need Is Systemic Change organised by Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart and Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin

https://www.wkv-stuttgart.de/en/program/2020/shutdown-program/program-7/

AWI participated in Art.Lab Matera, where it presented a video contribution and dialogued with the institutional representatives of the Culture Committee of the House, the Senate and the representatives of the Government 

https://artlab.fitzcarraldo.it/it/artlab-20/matera/appuntamento/provvedimenti-decreti-settore-cultura

AWI coordinated, together with Francesca Guerisoli, the panel of the Forum of Italian Contemporary Art "Work in art: if normality was the problem". The table proposed to rethink the status of the artist and worker in contemporary art, questioning the correct contractual and fiscal framework, economic livelihood and forms of social security. It also aimed to work on professional recognition, through the definition of ethical principles and operational tools as a basis for imagining an alternative model, based on the sustainability and dignity of work.

Read the final document

As a partner of the Forum of Italian Contemporary Art, AWI also took part in the other panels of the Forum. Listen to AWI's contribution in "From the creative city to the city of care, proposals for new relational paradigms", coordinated by Pietro Gaglianò and Institute of Radical Imagination.

Read AWI's contribution to the panel "What is the future of the art market?" coordinated by Cristina Masturzo and Adriana Polveroni.

AWI organised a meeting with Cristina Zanni from ACTA and Donato Nubile from Smart to investigate the logics that underlie in-house, outsourced and self-employed work, and the solution of a cooperative system.

AWI participated in IS THIS LOVE? LABOR / ART / AURATIC CONDITIONS” with Cultural Workers Alliance Greece and organsed by Sync Curatorial Fellowship and 3 137, Athens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJgroXxG9rI&ab_channel=3137artistrunspace

AWI launched its manifesto on May Day in Turin. The manifesto is divided into demands related to the Covid-19 emergency and long-term goals.

Read the Manifesto

Sign the Manifesto

Listen to the reading of the Manifesto

AWI sent a letter to the Minister for Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism Dario Franceschini, with requests and suggestions on how to support the sector affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in the current emergency and in the long term. 

Read the Letter

AWI promoted the appeal and the #SOSNOPROFITCULTURA campaign to demand from the government for greater economic protection of third sector associations put at risk by the closure of spaces during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Read the appeal

Becoming aware of the urgency of the situation that has only exacerbated structural problems within the sector, the group decided to organise into working tables. Divided into areas of investigation and intervention, these aim to articulate concrete proposals both in the context of the Covid-19 emergency and in the long term. The different tables are dedicated to identifying pre-existing labour protection measures and ways to improve them; the comparative analysis of good practices already tested in other EU and non-EU countries, the assessment of their applicability in Italy; and the historical research of the struggles of art workers. AWI has initiated conversations with other national and international movements concerned with protecting cognitive work and has held discussions with universities and academies. Furthermore, we have initiated collaborations with experts in the legal, fiscal, and administrative sectors to discuss how to build contractual models that meet the real needs of art workers. 

The group "Emergenza Permanente” - Workers of Contemporary Art" emerged on social media. The initial objective of the group was sharing useful information during the first lockdown in Italy caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the suspension of most work for art workers. A draft was shared to everybody to gather collectively in-depth articles, appeals to be signed, regional, national and international initiatives.
Explore the Art Workers Covid-19 Toolkit