The Law on the Status of Artists and Artists’ Organisations (1996) establishes the basis and procedure for granting and abolishing the status of the artist and artists’ organisations. According to the Law, the status of an artist is granted to a person who creates professional art, and 1) a person’s individual or collective creation of art has been positively evaluated as professional art in monographs, reviews or articles published by professional artistic assessors; 2) a person’s creation of art is included in general education curricula, vocational training programmes and higher education study programmes approved in accordance with the procedure laid down by the law; 3) the creation of art by a person or a group of persons has been honoured with a national or international art prize, other prizes and awards given by organisations of artists, or a laureate’s diploma of an international competition of professional art creators and/or performers (except competitions of pupils and students); 4) the person’s artworks have been acquired by national museums or galleries of Lithuania or foreign states; 5) the person has published art-assessment articles and reviews in Lithuanian or foreign publications for not less than five years; as well as the person who has been awarded a Doctor of Science degree or a Doctor of Arts degree for research activities in an appropriate artform; 6) a teacher in the field of the art who holds the position of professor or associate professor at a higher education institution which prepares professional artists according to art study programmes; or 7) a person who has been, individually or with a group of artists, selected and represented Lithuania at internationally recognised events of professional art.
Article 11 of the Law determines state support for artists from the Artists Social Security Programme, approved by the government in 2011. The Programme guarantees the state financial obligation to cover social and health insurance of artists, and support to self-employed artists. One of the purposes of the Programme is to allocate creative idle time payments for artists. Creative idle time means a period of time when an artist of employable age, for objective reasons, temporarily has no conditions for the creation of art and (or) dissemination of its results. Creative idle time payment is a payment in the amount of a minimal monthly wage, which is paid to the artists from the Programme’s budget. The new edition of the programme of 2022 establishes the rules for payments in an emergency or quarantine.
The Law also defines the procedure of granting the status of “artists’ organisation” to an association. The status is granted if 1) not less than 25 artists have founded the association; 2) only artists or organisations holding the status of an artist and uniting not less than five members – organisations of artists – are members of the association; 3) the association promotes creation of art of high professional value, its diversity and dissemination; 4) the association sets conditions for the creation of art, creative work and professional development of its members; 5) the association arranges for art works to be accessible to the public; 6) the association represents artists of the whole country (not just one of its regions).
In 2022, the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture provided information about 19 unions and associations that have the status of “artists’ organisation”. These organisations play an important role in cultural policy. According to many Laws that establish the procedure of formation of cultural policy institutions (councils, commissions, foundations), these organisations have the right to delegate their members to consulting or governing bodies. Thus, artists participate in cultural policy decision-making mainly through their unions and associations (see chapter 1.2.5 for more about the activity of artists organisations).
The state funding for individual artists’ creative activity and for the projects of artists organisations is mainly allocated through the Lithuania Council for Culture (see chapter 7.2). The Council awards grants not only to those artists who have a status of art creators, but also to all cultural or artistic creators who are citizens of the Republic of Lithuania, other European Union countries or third countries, if their activity is related to creation or dissemination of Lithuanian culture and art.
In 2021, the Lithuanian Council for Culture commissioned a Study on the Social and Creative Condition of artists. According to the study, there are 6976 artists in Lithuania, of which 52 % are women and 48 % are men. Only 20 % of all artists interviewed said they could make a living purely from creative activities. On average, 35 % of the monthly income of artists comes from creative activities, 37 % is earned from non-creative activities, and 28 % comes from activities partly related to creativity. Responding to questions on the artist’s profession and society’ s attitude towards it, most of the artists agreed that “artists contribute to the formation of social values” and that it is “important for them to contribute to the development of culture and the arts”. At the same time, they believe that artists are underestimated by society and policymakers in Lithuania. This view is confirmed by the recurring public debates in the media between artists, politicians, and the public about various works of art (see chapter 2.9). These discussions are mainly provoked by patriotic and religious NGOs expressing their negative attitude or dissatisfaction with the way artists treat certain ideas, personalities, or symbols. NGOs are usually supported by populist politicians seeking to use public debate to increase their popularity and visibility. Thus, Lithuanian artists must often defend their professional autonomy and the right to make their own aesthetic and artistic decisions and to tackle the challenges of a narrow understanding of the freedom of expression and low artistic literacy in society.
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