Migrant artists call for fair treatment

Artists hold a press conference, May 24, calling for the government to create a safer and fairer work environment for all artists, regardless of nationality. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

By Jon Dunbar

Korean artists are set to benefit from a new law that will protect their rights after it goes into effect in September. But many artists are concerned that the language in the enforcement decree of the Act on the Guarantee of the Status and Rights of Artists (AGSRA) may leave out many artists in Korea ― those of foreign nationality.

The Diverse Artists of Korea Association (DAKA), which includes artists representing diverse media including visual arts and performing arts, submitted a petition with signatures from over 500 individuals and organizations to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, asking for the wording of the new law to be changed to include all artists regardless of nationality. Park Kyong-ju, founder of DAKA, submitted the petition to an official in charge of the Art Policy Division at the culture ministry. She said the official assured her that foreign artists would not be excluded and that the wording didn't need to be changed. He also promised to put that guarantee in writing and deliver it as a letter in the future.

However, DAKA said in a statement released at a press conference on May 24 that Article 3 (2) of the AGSRA refers to Article 4 of the Framework Act on Culture, which guarantees the cultural rights of Korean citizens only. So, they are calling for an enforcement decree for the protection of the rights of artists regardless of nationality.

DAKA member John D. Michaels, an actor who has appeared in several Korean TV and movie productions including "Squid Game," said in a prepared speech at the press conference, that the organization hopes the new law "will not only make the lives of Korean artists better and safer but that the ministry will correct its oversight in protecting the rights of foreign artists," adding that "it's important to point out that words haven't always resulted in action."

Actor John D. Michaels speaks at a press conference, May 24, calling for the government to create a safer and fairer work environment for all artists, regardless of nationality. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Also at the press conference, held in a public space in front of the Korea Disability Arts & Culture Center in northeastern Seoul's Daehangno area, Bereket Alemayehu, an Ethiopian photo artist, writer and social activist who came to Korea in 2014 as a refugee, said that this issue is a matter of "being included or continuing to be excluded."

He pointed to the difficulties he faces working as an artist in Korea, which includes not being eligible to apply for arts funding and restrictions on specific visa types that don't allow holders to seek income from other sources.

"We as foreign residents of this country who invested our cultural and monetary capital, also as taxpayers, should be eligible to apply for local and national arts funding in the same way as Korean citizens," he said.

Ethiopian artist Bereket Alemayehu speaks at a press conference, May 24, calling for the government to create a safer and fairer work environment for all artists, regardless of nationality. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

Actor/artist James Beckwith pointed out how he has seen the positive effects of his Korean colleagues who are recipients of government funding and support programs, but adds that "the unfortunate truth… is that it is not available for us."

He added, "We don't want to be treated differently. We don't want anything special. We just want to be able to join and to be a part of this culture that we are living in."

"We are the voices and faces for Korean companies to the rest of the world," Barri Tsavaris, an actor and voice actor from New York, reminded the assembled crowd and passersby.

She called attention to problems with the E-6 culture and entertainment visa. She explained how E-6 holders like herself only receive a fraction of their income, after their casting agencies take a cut of 20 to 80 percent, and then their visa sponsors take an additional 15 to 50 percent of whatever's left.

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"In the West, this is called 'double-dipping' and is considered unethical," she said.

She added that, with the lack of oversight and support for foreign national artists, these exploitative working conditions can be used to trap vulnerable women and force them into sex work.

Barri Tsavaris speaks at a press conference, May 24, calling for the government to create a safer and fairer work environment for all artists, regardless of nationality. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

She also pointed to the lack of transparency in pay rates, as foreign artists rarely receive contracts showing how much they are being paid.

According to an informal poll, DAKA disclosed of F and E-6 visa holders working in the television, advertising and film industries, the majority had never been offered a contract to sign for their work. For commercial work, including ads for Korean exporters distributed around the world, 70 percent answered they had never seen or signed a contract for their work or usage rights. For speaking roles in movies, 78 percent had never signed a contract. For speaking roles in television, including international productions on Netflix and Disney+, 83 percent had never signed a contract.

KAWA members said that E-6 visa holders should be automatically issued an arts activity certificate by the Korean Artists Welfare Foundation (KAWF), an enforcement body under the culture ministry, upon receipt of their visas, and immediately granted access to all of the protections this certificate entails. They should also be informed of their rights as artists in their native language.

They cited that Korea is one of 179 contracting states of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, aimed to enforce copyright law internationally as well as guarantee artists ownership over their artistic creations, image and performances. Korea's own Copyright Act is derived from this convention and makes no distinction between artists based on nationality.

Yet the KAWA members said the enforcement mandates of these laws exclude most foreign artists. They said KAWF only offers enforcement protections to Korean nationals and a few select types of foreign artists, while excluding the majority of foreign artists working in Korea on E-6 visas.

"This lack of protection puts E-6 visa holders in a very vulnerable position, and if the law doesn't protect the most vulnerable of us, then it effectively doesn't protect any of us," KAWA said in its statement.

Many of the artists who gathered for the press conference pointed out that they all suffer under the threat of retribution and blacklisting for reporting on or speaking out against abusive behavior.

One speaker, who wished to remain anonymous, said that as a recently graduated arts student in Korea, she has faced limited opportunities.

"We are basically required already by the curriculum in some sort of way to gain experience in order to develop our arts and our craft," she said. "Something that many don't know is that students also need to have contracts in order to be allowed to work in the industry, even just as a freelancer or as an apprentice. But often those contracts are not given to us by either the agencies or any sort of hiring place. So in that case, we are most of the time either forced to just abide by the Korean rules of the industry to just work if we want to gain experience in our field, or we just have to pass up this opportunity and stay empty-handed with no experience for the future."

James Beckwith speaks at a press conference, May 24, calling for the government to create a safer and fairer work environment for all artists, regardless of nationality. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar

"As we all know, the spread of K-pop and K-culture is going rampant throughout the world," Beckwith said. "So I implore that the Korean government thinks of a strategy to help and support not just us artists that are here, but the artists that will come, because I promise you there will be more artists coming here."

"It's clear from watching Korean dramas, movies and advertisements, or by going to art shows, museums and cultural exchange exhibitions, that there is a hunger within Korean culture, and a need within the Korean economy for foreign artists," Tsavaris said. "Foreign artists don't take jobs away from Koreans. In fact, they help to create more jobs for Koreans, because productions and ad campaigns that require foreign performers can shoot locally instead of outsourcing abroad. They help to spread Korea's influence around the world, and we all pay taxes."

"Foreign and immigrant artists have been adding to the richness of Korean society for decades, and foreign artists of every type, actors, models, musicians, fine artists, dancers, all draw inspiration from Korea's rich heritage, and share their own cultures and unique points of view with Korea, enriching Korean society and contributing to a burgeoning international culture," Michaels said. "We stand with Korean artists in hoping that this new enforcement decree by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will create a safer and fairer work environment for all artists, regardless of nationality."

"We demand only one thing from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism," Alemayehu said. "We, migrant artists, no longer want to be 'extras' to the welfare and rights of artists."