The EuroFIA group convened for an online meeting on the 16th of November 2023 for an exchange and update on key areas of joint interest, as well as a round of national reports. The chairing of the meeting was shared by the co-coordinators of the EuroFIA group: SFA, France and AUT Turkey. The group was pleased to welcome a number of external speakers who joined to inform the group on some of the specific agenda items. Rosa Perez Monclus, assistant to MEP Domenec Ruiz Devesa joined the meeting to present the EP INL Report on the Living and Working Conditions of Artists and Cultural professionals to the EuroFIA Group (shortly before its eventual adoption in plenary later the same week.). Ms Monclus offered some insight into the context and the process that led to the development of the report and some of the most important elements contained within in. You can find a detailed news item on this important report on FIA’s website.
The group also welcomed Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, National Executive Director of SAG-AFTRA, who joined the group to update them on the tentative agreement and ending of the SAG-AFTRA strike. He reported that SAG-AFTRA was thrilled to have reached an agreement after 118 days, a historical strike action that has had massive impact on the industry. International support and solidarity has been extremely precious and meaningful also in relation to the employers. He closed by noting that he looks forward to exploring the details of the agreement with the FIA membership and that the AI section is probably the most detailed that exists. The agreement has been ratified since the EuroFIA meeting and there is a dedicated article exploring this important breakthrough in our news section.
Other guests included Ioan Kaes, Director of Aepo-Artis, who joined the EuroFIA to update members on the ongoing process of transposition of the DSM directive in Poland and Bulgaria where it is hoped some improvements for performers may still be achieved. On the issue of Artificial Intelligence and ongoing work on the AI Act, Pauline Durand Vialle, Director of FERA joined Dominick Luquer, General Secretary of FIA for a discussion panel. Their discussion explored the significant regulatory challenge that this represents: since the AI act was first tabled back in 2021, the use of AI in the AV industry and the understanding of its implications, has radically changed and expanded since that time. It is vital to secure some basic concepts that may be a basis for work in the future: central to this is transparency on use of AI (without which there can be no consent regarding the use of work or reasonable remuneration for uses). These principles have been asserted in several statements and papers and again more detailed analysis and positioning is available on the FIA website.
The meeting was also an opportunity to update the group on other ongoing areas of work, such as the European social dialogue; European projects; FIA’s diversity and inclusion working groups, as well as FIA’s recent report on Circus Artists. The next meeting of the EuroFIA group will be in Ljubljana, Slovenia and will include a one-day joint meeting with the CMOs active in the Audiovisual sector.
