“Creative workers” is a special category, used by the labour legislation to cover artists and other professions in the field of arts and culture, from the angle of their working force used to deliver a specific product or an outcome. There are plenty of variations in the labour law of different countries on who exactly is considered as a “creative worker”, what would be the benefits and social security coverage for these professions, how and why they are different from the rest of the employees and self-employed in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

The publication “The position of cultural workers in creative industries: The south-eastern European perspective” by Jaka Primorac aims at highlighting some of the less known aspects related to cultural workers’ status in the creative industries of South-Eastern Europe. The research covers: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Macedonia. She has decided to include in the “creative industries”: publishing industry, film industry, multimedia and electronic publishing, design and advertising, architecture, and music industry, as well as the visual arts.

Jaka Primorac stresses out that “cultural workers are those involved in the field of creative industries on some of the following levels: primary cultural production/output, the distribution and interpretation of cultural and creative works, and cultural management. Creative workers category includes not only artists, but also directors, producers and distributors of films, designers, visual artists, photographers, managers in creative marketing and advertising, directors of (and editors in) multimedia, music, book and electronic publishing houses, book and music distributors and producers, writers, singers, architects, and cultural managers”.

A friend of mine who works in the music industry just told me on Skype: “My definition is that everyone who creates something by using his mind and inspiration at the same time could be considered as a "creative worker". So, is it necessary to work in the creative industry to be a creative worker, or not? Does the definition changes from country to country, from one artistic field to another, or we could be able to create a more universal ‘European” definition, and if yes, to what extend it would be applicable to South-Eastern Europe?

Interesting to read in the findings of the research that “the creative industries highlights a change in the perception of culture – from a view of ‘expenditure in culture’ – culture as a cost – to a view of ‘investment in culture’ – culture as something that is worth investing in”. We have entered this discussion many times at various occasions across Europe: are the money spent for culture considered as expenditure, an investment, or are given just to please audiences? Should the funding be given for final artistic quality results, for efficient creative processes and partnership, for cultural infrastructure, for operational budgets, or for investment in creative individuals? To what extend and how the state funding should also support individual artists and managers working in the creative industries? This is not an easy question, especially considering that these creative workers should earn profit as a result of placing their creative products on the market? Different governments across Europe have diverse policies towards supporting (or not) creative workers, in diverse funding levels and instruments. (The Compendium website provides a comprehensive overview of Social security laws and measures in south-eastern Europe to support self-employed artists). Jaka Primorac tries to find out signs of legislative measures and policy documents in the targeted countries to let us learn more about the situation in the region, the factors influencing cultural workers and creative industries, and the steps to be considered further.

Self employed artists are the most vulnerable group, as they usually work on temporary contracts, take multiple job offers to support their living, insecure working environment, take risks, have fluctuating incomes, which in many cases much lower than the average in the society. There are various forms of employment in creative industries: flexible employment, part-time work, work on contract, voluntary work. Jaka Primorac outlines that “cultural workers in south-eastern Europe are experiencing double insecurity. This is partly because the economies of the region are in a volatile state and partly because jobs in creative industries tend to be precarious.”

Some of the final recommendations given in the research paper are: setting up of professional organisations and agency to defend creative workers’ rights and conditions of work; setting up independent bodies at arm’s length from government (such as film centres, book centres); using taxation policies to encourage development of creative industries; introducing special credit facilities for companies in the creative industries; improving the education curricula in areas such as intellectual property rights, Creative Commons and similar licences; improved communication between existing professional associations in creative industries in order to give to each industry a stronger lobbying power.

It seems that there is a long way to go for improving the status of creative workers in South-East Europe, as the policies, institutions and professional organisations are still far from providing a high-quality support and necessary benefits for these professionals, especially when it concerns the one having self-employed status. Social and economic protection of this vulnerable group certainly requests joined efforts between government institutions, creative workers’ unions and employers’ organisations in a way that they all recognise and apply efficient support mechanisms, strong collective bargaining systems and collective contracts of employment for various types of creative professions and types of organisations. It also requires a very strong link between cultural policies’ instruments and cultural industries’ actions – not only on theory, but as practical daily chain of gained measures and support.