![]() This system only operates, of course, on the condition that one has "put in one’s hours", as the intermittent workers we met described it – that is to say, clocked up 507 working hours over a period of 10 months. ![]() And all this while still drawing unemployment benefit in periods between contracts. Yannick Barbe sums up the advantages of the intermittent workers’ scheme in France: "What I like is that I operate as self-employed, but with the status of an employed person." This is precisely what makes this scheme so attractive to a large number of workers in the artistic sphere: the ability to enjoy independence within your organisation and to choose your own projects, while still being employed by each organisation you work for. The French scheme: an exception that offers protection In 2004, he set up his own company to stage his choreography, first alone and later with different dancers and artists. He stayed with his company for nine years, during which he trained himself in contemporary dance in Paris. His dancing career came about after he met a choreographer when he was studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and performing as a musician in a group. He directs the company Épiderme in Grenoble, with which he stages creative projects for both the theatre and public spaces. Nicolas Hubert has been a dancer and choreographer for 20 years. Since then, he has performed in a large number of plays with several companies (such as Droguerie moderne) and staged theatrical productions, often darkly funny, working for Noodles and the Compagnie de Poche. A self-taught comedian and musician, after graduating and working as an architect he started acting as an amateur, because he loved it. Yannick Barbe, along with Véro Frèche, has been co-directing the company Les Noodles, which describes itself as presenting "all-terrain theatre" since 2004. He was involved in amateur projects before he was made redundant and took advantage of this to change career path and become a professional artist. He likes projects that bring him close to the audience. ![]() An "all-rounder", he started with music and progressed into dance and theatre. Régis Soucheyre, on the other hand, is a self-employed intermittent worker. She has only been an intermittent worker since 2015, when she decided to focus her activity on creative work. She is a performer, teacher and "explorer of the body in motion and in relation", according to the website of Chorescence, the company she has been directing for 15 years. Isabelle Uskï is self-taught and sees herself primarily as a multidisciplinary artist: she dances, plays the accordion and performs vocal improvisations and clowning. We met four French performing artists to obtain a better understanding of this French scheme for intermittent workers, what they gain from it, and the constraints it imposes. ![]() The scheme was set up to offset the inherent discontinuity of periods of employment in these professions. However, this scheme is restricted to professionals whose work is primarily associated with artistic creation projects, meaning that it excludes teachers of artistic disciplines (such as dance and music teachers). On the one hand, it allows organisations and firms in these sectors to recruit employees on very short fixed-term contracts, with no limitation on the number of consecutive contracts (in 2017, the figure went up to more than 50 contracts in a year for some), and on the other, it entitles workers who have accumulated 507 working hours over a period of 10 months to unemployment benefit during non-working periods. ![]() This is a rather special unemployment insurance scheme. We asked them about their day-to-day work as artists and the benefits, as well as the limitations, of the scheme.Īccording to the latest available figures (from 2017), 143 321 workers are registered with the French unemployment scheme for intermittent workers in the performing arts, which is 66% of the 217 153 workers in the live performance (dance, theatre, music), film and audiovisual sectors, be they artists, workers or technicians. HesaMag went to meet four artists living in the south of France, each of whom manages his or her career in a unique way using elaborate organisational skills. In France, artists working in the live performance, film and audiovisual sectors have a special kind of unemployment insurance scheme: the régime des salariés intermittents du spectacle (scheme for intermittent workers in the performing arts). ![]()
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