JAKA PRIMORAC: FROM PROJECT TO PROJECT. WORK AND EMPLOYMENT IN THE CULTURAL SECTOR

PUBLISHER: BLOK - Local Base for Cultural Refreshment

AUTHOR: Jaka Primorac, PhD 

EDITORS: Dunja Kučinac and Vesna Vuković 

REVIEWERS: Biserka Cvjetičanin, PhD and associate professor Valerija Barada, PhD 

PROOFREADING: Jana Pamuković 

DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Lana Grahek

LANGUAGE: Croatian

YEAR OF PUBLISHING: 2021

PRINT RUN: 500 copies

In her study "From Project to Project: Work and Employment in the Cultural Sector" sociologist Jaka Primorac analyzes the field of culture from the perspective of work and working conditions of cultural producers. Focusing on the cultural-political framework and the structure of employment and the characteristics of work in the sector, the study points to the consequences of increasingly strong projectization of cultural production: growing insecurity and underpayment of a large number of cultural workers and artists.

The first chapter introduces us to the topic of the study and offers arguments for acknowledging and recognizing work as the foundation of any cultural and artistic production. The following chapter provides a mass of data on the structure of employment and the basic characteristics of work in the cultural sector in Croatia and thus outlines a broader political and economic context important for understanding project-based work that dominates the field. The third chapter analyzes the various consequences that the projectization of cultural production has on working conditions and inequalities in the field, while the fourth chapter looks at the topic from the perspective of public policies and regulation of work in culture. The concluding fifth chapter summarizes the previously presented arguments and sets 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.

From reviews:

"Starting from the current position of cultural workers, but at the same time broadening the context towards historical and broader sociopolitical and cultural processes in which it finds sources of non-recognition of artistic and cultural work as work, the study can be directly used in advocacy and policy debates."

(Valerija Barada)

"Demonstrating a deep understanding of the problem of project-flexible type of cultural work, the author raises a number of questions and advocates new forms of funding for work that must be fairly paid within the system 'in which culture and art are understood as a public good'."

(Biserka Cvjetičanin)

THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED AS PART OF THE "ART AND CULTURAL WORKERS CONGRESS" PROJECT, WHICH IS FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG SOUTHEAST EUROPE FROM THE FUNDS OF THE GERMAN FEDERAL FOREIGN OFFICE. THIS PUBLICATION AND ITS PARTS MAY BE USED FREELY WITH OBLIGATORY REFERENCE TO SOURCE. THE CONTENT OF THE PUBLICATION IS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PUBLISHER AND DOES NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF ROSA LUXEMBURG STIFTUNG SOUTHEAST EUROPE.

THE BOOK CAN BE OBTAINED FREE OF CHARGE AT BAZA.