Yesterday’s celebrities suffer neglect after retirement…and need an “umbrella of protection.”

The file of securing the future of creative people in the Emirates, especially those who are elderly or in cases of inability to work, represents one of the important files that cast a shadow from time to time on the thriving creative scene in the country. After a journey of brilliance and creativity, the artist may find himself suffering from a decline in job opportunities, and thus a decrease in his income, in exchange for the increasing pressures of life and its requirements, and his need for treatment or health care with increasing age.

Emirates Today surveyed the opinions of a number of intellectuals and workers in the creative work sector in its various fields, about their suggestions and ideas on how to achieve financial security. In their answers, they confirmed that the UAE is a pioneer in providing the basic needs of its citizens in general, including creative people, explaining that securing the creative is a shared responsibility, and the creator himself must bear a part of it, presenting many proposals that can aim to provide a state of stability and financial security for creatives.

Shared responsibility

The artist and writer, Sultan Bin Dafoun, pointed out “the importance of creative people having a special insurance or pension system, because the nature of their work does not resemble traditional jobs. Creativity is real work, but it does not have a fixed income, and therefore it needs a flexible protection system that guarantees the dignity of the creator in the advanced stages of life, without restricting his freedom or imposing on him an employment framework that does not resemble it.”

He added, “The responsibility of providing an insurance or pension system for creative people is a shared responsibility, led by cultural government agencies by setting the legal and regulatory framework, and in which cultural institutions and the private sector participate, with the commitment of the creative people themselves to contribute to this system.”

Investing in people

Writer Fatima Al Mazrouei stated that providing a special social insurance system for creative people is not considered a burden on the state, but rather represents a real investment in people and culture, and this idea can be applied by establishing a national social insurance program for independent creative people, based on the principle of flexible subscription, so that the creative person contributes in proportion to his income, with partial or complete government support in some cases. This system includes a retirement pension, basic health insurance, in addition to protection in cases of disability or forced cessation. About work. This program can also be linked to a national registry or a creative union, which ensures that creative activity is documented and organized without administrative complexity.

Al Mazrouei proposed opening the door to the private sector’s participation in supporting creativity, through businessmen, as they are essential partners in supporting the creator and enhancing the sustainability of this system. The private sector’s participation can take place through establishing support funds for the creative, or contributing to financing social insurance programs within the framework of social responsibility. Businessmen can also sponsor the subscriptions of the creative, or adopt creative projects that generate a sustainable income for them.

Al Mazrouei added: “With the growth of the creative economy, an increasing number of creative people have emerged who work independently outside the framework of government jobs or official institutions, and despite their clear contributions to enriching the cultural and artistic scene, these creative people face real challenges related to social security, especially in the stage of advanced age, or in the event of exposure to illness or cessation of work.”

Recruiting talent professionally

The artist, Dr. Tariq Al-Menhali, called on creative people to bear part of the responsibility for securing their future and achieving financial stability for them, in addition to official efforts, adding: “There must be agreement on a pivotal point, which is that the creative person must have a contribution to planning his life, as he cannot be secured without striving to secure himself, so that he can obtain a stable income when he is unable to work.”

Al-Menhali explained that there are insurance companies that provide plans that give room for insurance savings for a talented person or any person skilled in a specific job, as a monthly contribution for a specific period of time, provided that he is compensated in the event of a circumstance that affects his work, or an emergency health condition, and he is compensated with the value agreed upon in the contract.

Al-Menhali pointed out that “most creative people are looking for freedom in working life, and this leads in many cases to a lack of financial security. Therefore, the creative person must believe in the importance of transforming his talent into a craft, in order to reach the right path with it. If he does not realize that he is an employee who uses his talent through a company, institution, personal giving, or other forms of creative work and the bodies organizing it, he will not be able to reach the ceiling of social and financial security.

A renewed problem

The artist Mansour Al-Faily pointed out that the issue of insuring creative people in old age is a problem that is renewed from time to time, whenever a case arises of an artist suffering from unemployment and does not find a source of income, or needs treatment, or other cases that reflect the extent of the urgent need to implement such a project, pointing out that the existing associations do not have the authority or ability to provide an insurance umbrella or a solution to problems that may arise among members working in the field during work, for example, problems related to wages, financial rights, etc., as they do not have any authority to intervene in a way. Official, which calls for looking to activate its roles or finding more effective parties.

Spreading awareness

The poet and artist, Mohammed Al Mazrouei, explained that recent years have witnessed many previous steps taken by the UAE to nurture creativity and creators, and it can be said that it precedes the creator in the cultural and artistic movement that we are witnessing in the recent period, thanks to the infrastructure it provides that stimulates work and production in all areas of creativity, and official or voluntary institutions to support the arts and creativity.

Al Mazrouei pointed out that the UAE provides its citizens, including creative people, with many services related to social insurance, health insurance, housing provision, and others, pointing out that some of them lack knowledge of the advantages made available to them by the state and the responsible authorities, or the entities they should go to in order to obtain these advantages, and how to communicate with them, so awareness of these matters must be spread.

He added: “We are faced with an important dilemma, which is the criteria for defining a creator, and whether it depends on the quality of creativity or the number of works he has presented,” considering that joining a specific party is not evidence of creativity, especially in light of the current conditions that allow any writer to publish books on his own account, regardless of the quality of the content he presents in these publications, and whether it represents original creativity or not. Likewise, there is creative production that does not fall under a specific umbrella, such as the poets of Nabati poetry who exist in the cultural space, and who have original creativity, but It is difficult to count them precisely.

Benefit from experiences

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Eyal Zayed Arts Theater, the writer and artist Abdullah Buhajos, pointed out that the country’s senior citizens receive health insurance, a retirement salary and housing, which means that they receive approximately 95% of basic needs, and this applies to creative people, and a large percentage of artists and creative people work in jobs in different sectors, and thus they receive salaries and job benefits and then retirement.

Buhagos pointed out the necessity: “We all stand with him, because talent does not disappear or disappear with time and age. Rather, it is a gift from God and with time experience is added to it. Therefore, we can work to benefit from great creators as advisors or trainers for young talents instead of seeking the help of trainers and experts from abroad.”

Regarding his vision of how to achieve this proposal and create an environment for communication between different generations, he stressed that the UAE was a pioneer in providing all channels that ensure comfort and support for creative people in particular, and for its children in general, pointing out that the prevailing idea that creative work, whether acting, making cinema, writing in all its forms, or plastic arts and other fields, is not suitable to be a source of livelihood and meet a person’s material needs and responsibilities. This idea forced creative people to work in different jobs, and some of them did not complete their careers in work. Creative, because they are unable to achieve a balance between it and the job and its obligations.