UNESCO has made a great step in advancing the situation of artists and cultural professionals in the Dominican Republic with reference to their welfare and working conditions via the ARTSECURE initiative that was financed by the European Union. It is an initiative that seeks to design a comprehensive model of social protection that is specifically designed to address the needs of the cultural sector, which is mainly informal and is made up of self-employed workers who are exposed to many obstacles in accessing healthcare, retirement provisions, maternity benefits, and workplace accident covers. The project is moving in the right direction to create a regulatory framework that can enhance the creative economy of the country through a massive amount of consultations, stakeholder involvement, and cross-sector participation.
ARTSECURE Moves on with Advisory and Institutional Partnership
The recent mission to Santo Domingo by UNESCO in the framework of ARTSECURE resulted in the conclusion of a technical assistance mission, which is a significant milestone towards establishing better social protection of cultural workers. The mission supported 16 specific meetings during 5 days between 70 players at the Ministry of Culture, nine government institutions, and various artistic groups.
These meetings provided a better insight into realities that Dominican artists have to deal with, nowadays, most of them working independently. Eva Moraga Guerrero, an international expert and consultant at UNESCO, revealed that there were huge challenges in formalising artistic work, access to social security, and current regulatory gaps during the meetings. The participants freely disclosed their working practices, financial insecurity, and the immediate necessity of having a system that covers them against illnesses, job risks, income insecurity, and retirement insecurity.
Governmental organizations were very favorable, providing a reflection of the current systems and potential avenues for exploring to come up with a culturally responsive and practical social protection framework. Their participation is an indicator of a strong base that is vital in ensuring that a project is successful.
Six-Phase Roadmap to Construct a Sustainable Social Protection Model
The ARTSECURE project will be designed as 6 distinct phases that should be accomplished by the conclusion of the following year:
- Needs assessment and stakeholder mapping.
- Multisectoral communication and training courses.
- Best practice exchange at a global level.
- Writing of a regulation system tailored to cultural workers.
- Promotional publicity to establish the creative economy.
- Support for the adoption of the ultimate legal tool.
The work will be focused on diagnostics and training by the end of 2025, and the regulatory framework has to be drafted, and advocacy will be taking place throughout the project. The Director of the Regional Office of UNESCO in Havana, Anne Lemaistre, also stressed that ARTSECURE is created to not only safeguard the artists, but also professionalize and formalize the cultural industry, which will eventually lead to a higher creative economy in the Dominican Republic.
The further actions are based on further information gathering, joint work with the statistics department of the Ministry of Culture, training activities, campaigning on the issues of communication and publicity, and involving a legal expert to assist in drafting the regulatory proposal.
