By Penelope Galliou

The “file” culture is reopened today by the prime minister and a few hours before speaking at the presentation of the architectural plan for the upgrade of the National Archaeological Museum, the prime minister will meet at noon with representatives of the artists in order to discuss with a resolution the issues raised for artistic education.

Government officials both from the Ministry of Culture as well as the Ministry of Education they state the government’s intention to resolve the time-consuming issue of grading and upgrading the degrees of graduates of practical schools and assure that “within the next two months the three committees that have already been formed will have completed their work and will submit their proposals”.

Today’s meeting at Maximos Palace confirms the intention of the Prime Minister himself and the government to have an honest dialogue with the artists and as stated by the government representative “to clarify things that may not have been noticed” as the meeting is expected to clarify the government’s intentions regarding the planning for the upgrading of artistic education.

A government source, after declaring that he fully respects the work of artists, emphasized the government’s intention to upgrade and upgrade existing studies in the performing arts to university level. “We have the example of the Academy of Fine Arts, which does not accept students through the system of panhellenic exams but based on their talent, because this is the crucial point in the performing arts, so we will see the corresponding examples and the proposals that will be submitted by the competent committees so that by 2025 we can proceed to the next step which will be the creation of higher university education in the performing arts” he reported.

As regards, however, the artists’ concerns about the dispute Presidential Decree 85/2022 that led them to ongoing protests, government officials argue that this Presidential Decree does not change the recruitment procedures in the State in the pure capacity of the artist (e.g. in state orchestras, state stages, the National Theater, DIPETHE), despite only the qualifications of the branches for recruitment to administrative positions, while it does not modify the way they are paid either. They also emphasize that the government passed a legislative regulation that expressly excludes the hiring of artists in the State from the Presidential Decree, thus clarifying the method of remuneration for artists and their explicit exemption from ASEP, while at the same time establishing the mandatory use of the specialist against the uniform payroll in the local authorities.