The government will discuss the introduction of artist status. He wants to give 126 million to support them

The introduction of artist status into the Czech legal system and the establishment of the conditions and process for obtaining it requires an amendment that will be discussed by the government on Wednesday. The proposal was prepared by the Ministry of Culture. It also assumes that the support of artists will cost the state 126 million crowns annually and will concern 1,400 artists. The necessity of legislatively introducing the status of an artist has been discussed since the covid-19 pandemic, when the possibility of artistic production was significantly reduced. The amendment could apply from January 1 next year.

According to the proposal, a person who has been performing an artistic activity for at least two of the last three years should be registered in the register based on the submitted application. In order to receive the allowance, he must not be a student and must not be in an employment relationship that exceeds half of the weekly working time at the time of application. At the same time, his income from artistic activity for the last two years should make up at least half of his total income and should not exceed the average wage in the national economy.

At least once a year, the Ministry announces a selection procedure for the provision of scholarships, including the rules and deadline for applying for a scholarship.

In the final report on the impact of the regulation, the ministry stated that the goal of the proposal is to support people who are engaged in artistic activities mainly outside of employment relationships. “From the collected background analysis, it follows that this is the most endangered group of artists who face a number of disadvantages and obstacles in the performance of their profession,” the report states. The introduction of artist status is part of the National Recovery Plan, which defines reforms and investments for the implementation of which money will be provided by the European Union.

The National Recovery Plan was created to mitigate the effects of the covid-19 epidemic and restart the economy with the use of European money from the EU Recovery and Resilience Instrument between 2021 and 2027. Last September, the European Commission approved its revised form and at the same time an increase in the amount of money intended Czech Republic by 2.2 billion euros to 9.2 billion euros (232.5 billion crowns).