The appeal came during a public hearing in Warsaw on Tuesday before the Polish lower house's Culture, National Heritage and Media Committee.
The government bill would establish the legal status of professional artist and introduce state subsidies toward social insurance contributions for lower-income creative workers.
The subsidies would be available to artists whose average earnings over the previous three years did not exceed 125 percent of Poland’s minimum wage, currently equivalent to about PLN 68,000 (EUR 15,700, USD 18,000) in gross annual income.
The state would supplement their contributions up to a level based on the minimum wage. The money would be transferred directly to individual accounts at Poland’s Social Insurance Institution (ZUS). Eligibility would be reviewed annually.
Artists covered by the system would gain access to public healthcare, sickness benefits and maternity leave. The bill would also provide a basis for government programs helping artists retrain if they leave their profession.
Culture and National Heritage Minister Marta Cienkowska said every comment made during the hearing would be considered as the bill moved through parliament.
"A public hearing is the moment when a bill meets the experience of the people it will affect," Cienkowska said.
She added that the ministry would seek better solutions where necessary, particularly concerning the transparency of the system. "We want this conversation to continue," she said.
Cienkowska appealed for the bill to be considered on its merits rather than becoming part of a political dispute. The measure concerns working people and the future of Polish culture, she said.
Former Culture Minister Hanna Wróblewska said the current proposal was the third attempt to regulate artists’ social security, but the first to reach parliament and undergo serious legislative consideration.
"This bill has the faces of 60,000 artists and people in the artistic community who have waited years for its adoption," she said.
Wróblewska said comparable arrangements operated in France, Germany, Lithuania and Croatia. She urged lawmakers to avoid delaying the legislation through excessive amendments.
Several participants supported the bill while calling for changes.
Anna Łazar, director of Warsaw’s Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, said the measure demonstrated that artistic work was a profession requiring recognition, stability and protection.
She called for the bill to include provisions addressing artists’ pensions, which she said were essential to improving their long-term financial position.
Elżbieta Benkowska of the Polish Filmmakers Association proposed simplifying the procedure for obtaining professional artist status. She said representative professional organizations could assess applicants’ records instead of a separate review commission.
Benkowska also called for applicants to be allowed to demonstrate sufficient earnings across a three-year period without having to report income in each individual year. Such a system would better reflect the project-based nature of artistic work, she said.
She argued that inadequate social protection particularly affected younger women working as directors, screenwriters and other creative professionals.
Many postponed having children or left their professions to find jobs providing health and maternity insurance, she said.
"In 2026, a woman should not have to choose between family and career," Benkowska added.
Robert Gulaczyk, head of a trade union representing more than 1,800 professional actors, said about 200 new actors entered Poland’s labor market each year. Few secured permanent positions in theaters.
Most relied on guest appearances and short-term engagements. Payment for preparing and performing a theater role was commonly between PLN 3,000 and PLN 5,000 for a production process lasting two or three months, he said.
Gulaczyk warned that many people abandoned artistic careers each year because they could not afford to continue without social protection.
Edyta Duda-Olechowska of the Polish Screenwriters Guild said screenwriters generally worked under contracts for specific works that did not include social insurance contributions.
A screenwriter might write hundreds of television episodes over a career without acquiring the protections enjoyed by employees working under standard contracts, she said.
Under the bill, professional artist status would be granted to applicants who could document an established record of artistic work. It would normally remain valid for five years and could be extended to eight.
Administration of the system would be handled by a new government center created through the reorganization of the existing Center for Art Education.
The legislation is primarily intended to support artists with the lowest and most irregular earnings. Government estimates indicate that Poland has about 62,000 professional artists, with around 21,000 potentially qualifying for contribution subsidies.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP