The Urgent Return to Trainee Artist Recruitment Instead of 4/B Must Be Made Immediately!

THE URGENT RETURN TO TRAINEE ARTIST RECRUITMENT INSTEAD OF 4/B MUST BE MADE IMMEDIATELY!

Some holding doctorates, others trained abroad — our qualified and young artists are being employed not through the trainee artist recruitment process that is explicitly regulated in the institutions' own laws, but through 4/B contracted artist recruitment: a mechanism with no examination regulations of its own, originally conceived for temporary needs, yet over time turned into a "back door" for the institutions.

As a result of this practice, artists are condemned to work for an average salary of 35,000 TL. This is plainly labor exploitation.

Yet had these same artists been recruited — in accordance with the institutions' own laws, through trainee artist examinations with jury, examination procedures, and criteria determined by regulation — they would have been employed at approximately 53,000 TL, and after one year would have been eligible to sit the permanent appointment examination and become permanently employed artists.

Under the current 4/B system, however, artists are made to work for 3 years at 35,000 TL, with the possibility of transitioning to a permanent post arising only if a legislative amendment is made.

We ask: 3 years at 35,000 TL versus 1 year at 53,000 TL — which represents progress? Is this how one values a young artist? We state clearly to those who defend and applaud this labor exploitation: this is not progress — it is a lowering of standards, a weakening of the institutional structure, and the impoverishment of arts workers!

To date, our union has repeatedly warned the relevant authorities and the public regarding the controversial and litigated examinations that have been conducted. At the point we have now reached, both the institutions and the artists who passed those examinations are being victimized due to these erroneous practices.

The solution is clear and tolerates no further delay: arts institutions must urgently return to "trainee artist" recruitment in accordance with their own laws.

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