The Status of Artists in Europe: Compendium Key Resources Gateway

Scope:

"The status and freedom of artists, and other creative professions, is frequently seen as an indicator for the state of societies as a whole. While the core social and economic problems most them are facing in their professional life are quite similar across Europe, governments still tend to adopt different solutions. According to the principle of multi-stakeholder governance, democratic policy making should strive – like in other domains of our societies – towards addressing such issues in an inclusive way, i.e. by giving these professionals resp. their organisations a voice in problem-solving processes. The purpose of this "Themes!" section is to facilitate the retrieval and comparison of related information.
…An overall assessment of the information provided in the Compendium may arrive at the following conclusion:

In addition to the systems of direct public support for the arts and artists, there are pieces of legislation in many European countries which take into account some of the social and /or economic needs of creative workers resulting from their often precarious working status. However, "integrated models" which facilitate cooperation between cultural policies (including direct and indirect measures) and other areas of policy making (e.g. economics, social affairs, health or employment) are few. A re-orientation or re-focussing of existing public policies for artists and their working environment in a more integrated manner remains a challenging task – artists and their associations or unions could try to contribute to solutions for this problem." 
Content Here.