Artists must be healthy!
A number of independent artists in Serbia are facing a long-term problem of lack of health insurance, even in the Covid-19 pandemic conditions. Although art associations have been appealing to the authorities to solve this problem for years, the question of the impossibility to realize and to exercise one of the basic human rights had resonated with the general public only after the election of Ana Đurić - Konstrakta to represent Serbia at Eurosong 2022 with the song “In Corpore Sano” containing an easy-to-remember verse: “An artist must be healthy!”
Although a multi-faceted song “In Corpore Sano” refers to a number of issues characteristic of Serbian society, but also globally referring in part to the obsession with beauty and celebrity status, Marina Abramovic’s art performances and general uncertainty in the system during a crisis such as a pandemic, Konstrakta’s lyrics: “An artist must be healthy!” have resonated more effectively with the public than through numerous announcements and appeals of art associations in recent years.
Performance Artists - Beggars (Jana Stojaković and Klaudija Šarić-Marić), photo: Vladan Jeremić
Recently, 16 art associations have requested an urgent dialogue with the Ministry of Culture on that occasion in order to solve the problem of debts of independent artists for contributions for pension and health insurance, for which they are not responsible, but local authorities of cities where they reside and work. By the way, Konstrakta herself, an architect by education, doesn’t have health insurance.
The problem of independent artists without health insurance had risen because the local authorities did not pay contributions for their pension and health insurance in due time. In recent years, these contributions were mostly paid only by the City of Belgrade, while other cities in Serbia literally understood the legal provision according to which they "may" do it, but they did not have to. This practice continues even after the amendments to the umbrella Law on Culture which defines the obligations of local self-governments regarding the payment of contributions for pension and health insurance for independent artists. According to the data of The Association of Applied Arts Artists and Designers of Serbia (ULUPUDS), for example, the contributions for 2021 until the beginning of February 2022 were paid by the cities: Belgrade, Valjevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Raska and Nis, and not paid by cities: Pancevo, Pozarevac, Uzice, Gornji Milanovac...
The debts of artists have, due to this, accumulated and increased over the years, and if they did not pay by them themselves, they would be in a situation where they could not validate their health insurance cards even for the purposes of Covid-19 health treatment or for childbirth, surgery and so on. Also, they were unable to go to retirement. Some are facing enforcement agents and confiscation of property. A further problem is that in some cases, entire families are insured through an independent artist, so their children cannot have health insurance either.
Exhibition "Antinomies of Autonomy", Art Pavilion "Cvijeta Zuzorić", Belgrade, September 16 - October 14, 2021
Art associations have proposed to the Ministry of Culture to solve this decades-long problem by writing off the debts based on accumulated interest rates and paying the debt base from the state budget.
The total principal of the debt amounted to 107 million dinars (870,000 euros) in 2017, but the interest rate also increased over the years, so the basic debt had at least doubled. Meanwhile, many artists have agreed to pay off the debts they are not guilty of in installments - so that they can validate their health insurance cards or retire. The total amount of debt is now therefore lower than it was in 2017.
Representatives of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia (ULUS) and other organizations whose members have this problem have held a number of meetings over the past few years, with representatives of the Ministry of Culture, who are transferring the ball to the Ministry of Finance.
ULUS therefore believes that "there is no political will" for the final solution of this problem, as the representatives of that association stated at a recent press conference.
Writing off the debts of independent artists, otherwise, would not be a precedent. In 2018, according to ULUS, the Government of Serbia had paid the debts for the clergy in the amount of one million euros.
(SEEcult.org)
Funded by the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education 2021 of the German Federal Foreign Office, the Goethe-Institut and other partners, goethe.de/relieffund
