Status of authors and performers in Romania

A very important objective of ANUC's activity is to support and promote the status of the members of the component unions. ANUC's concerns and lobby activities have been recently demonstrated in a document elaborated and adopted by the Ministry of Culture as the authority of the Romanian State with competence in the field of culture, together with other seven most important non-governmental organisations of professional creators. Common Declaration was discussed and signed at the end of the ANUC's annual Symposium "Is cultural information (in Romania) a luxury?" Bucharest, 27-28 November 1998.

The Status of the Authors and Performers in Romania is a breakthrough at international level both as expression of the partnership between the govern and civil society within the filed of arts and culture and as solution to structure a lobby instrument. The content of the status regards not only the recognition of principles and desiderata affirmed at international level, but also the advancement of a middle term action plan. The implementation of the action plan - which is monitorised by the ANUC - offers real chances for the status of the artist not to be forgotten and to reach the main objective of the document: the increased awareness on the status and the role of the authors and performers in the society, contribution and execution of the cultural policies al local and national level within the framework of a real partnership between the govern and the civil society.

The Declaration affirms the specific international documents, asserts the adhesion to the guiding principles the activity of the authors and performers is based on. Middle term Action Plan aims at legislative means and initiatives in order to support the authors and performers with an improved legal, fiscal and economic framework for their work, more effective participation and recognition in the local communities, perspectives for training real participation in the European cultural context.

ANUC edited, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the brochure containing the text of the Declaration and an annex with the general information about the signatories. The work is distributed for free to those interested in Romanian, English and French versions. For ordering a copy, please address to the National Alliance of Creators' Unions (PO Box 22-226 Bucuresti, Romania, tel./fax: 401 212 31 38; 40 92 309 756; contact person: Monica Lotreanu) or the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs (tel.: 401 222 83 20, general registry) as well as the other signatory organisations' headquarters: Union of Architects of Romania UAR, Union of Visual Artists of Romania UAP, Union of Film Makers of Romania UCIN, Union of Composers and Musicologists of Romania UCMR, Writers' Union of Romania, Theatre Union of Romania UNITER, the Association of Art Photographers of Romania AAFR, the REFLEX Association (multi-media creators), the Association of the Professional Writers of Romania ASPRO, the ARTEXPO Foundation, the Union for Performing Creation of the Musicians of Romania UCIMR, the Federation of European Cartoonist Organisations, Romania Branch - FECO Romania, the Union of the Puppet and Marionette Artists of Romania UNIMA Romania.

Among the monitoring activities for the Action Plan on the Status of Authors and Performers in Romania, ANUC organised two reunions of the signatories of the Common Declaration:

• in 23 October 2000: the evaluation meeting of the execution stages of the Action Plan with the participation of the signatories and the leading team of the Ministry of Culture who signed the document in 1998
• in 8 February 2001: the exploratory meeting of the signatories with the new leading team of the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.