The CULTMED project collaborator Jaka Primorac, PhD, from the Department of Culture and Communication, IRMO, held a lecture on the 12th of November 2024 at the Zagreb Society of Architects (DAZ) titled ‘Work and Employment in Culture: Overview of the Field. The lecture analysed the field of culture from the perspective of work and the working conditions of cultural producers. Focusing on the cultural-political framework, the structure of employment and the characteristics of work in the sector, the lecture pointed to the consequences of increasingly intense projectisation of cultural production: growing insecurity and underpayment of a large number of cultural workers and artists. After offering arguments for acknowledging and recognising work as the foundation of any cultural and artistic production, Primorac provided data on the structure of employment and the basic characteristics of work in the cultural sector in Croatia and thus outlined a broader political and economic context important for understanding project-based work that dominates the field. Furthermore, she analysed the various consequences that the projectisation of cultural production has on working conditions and inequalities in the field. After looking at the topic from the perspective of public policies and regulation of work in culture, Primorac summarised the previously presented arguments and set a clear demand for developmental public policies that will enable paid work and better working conditions in the field of culture as well as the wider preservation of culture as a public good.
The lecture was held as a part of the educational programme ‘Applause Does Not Pay the Rent: Workshops on Labour Rights for Young Artists and Cultural Workers’, which is organised by the Local Base for Cultural Refreshment (BLOK) and Union of Screenwriters and Playwrights (SPID). The program is held during November and December 2024 and includes a number of lectures, seminars, and practical workshops. This year, the programme gathered around twenty participants, artists, and cultural workers from different cultural subsectors.
More on the educational program at the following link: https://www.blok.hr/hr/vijesti/aplauz-ne-placa-stanarinu-radionice-o-radnickim-pravima-za-mlade-umjetnice-i-kulturne-radnike (in Croatian only).
The educational program is financially supported by the City Office for Education, Youth and Sports of the City of Zagreb, while the annual program of BLOK 2024 is supported by the Foundation ‘Kultura Nova’.
