Hassan Al -Sitry
The Chairman of the Shura Council, Ali Al -Saleh, referred to the Services Committee, the proposal of a law on organizing technical professions, and submitted by members: Nancy Khadouri, Dalal Al -Zayed, Khaled Al -Muscati, Reda Faraj and Dr. Muhammad Al -Khuzai. According to the proposal, a fund called the “Technical Professions Fund” is established that follows the minister, and aims to develop artistic activity in the Kingdom and support and care for Bahraini artists, and includes the membership of those with artistic professions referred to in Article 3 of the law. The fund shall have a board of directors to be headed by the Minister and the membership of a number of members with experience, efficiency and knowledge of art and artistic professions, which are called by a decision by the Council of Ministers based on the Minister’s offer.
According to the proposal, it is prohibited from practicing any of the technical professions except after obtaining a license from the minister, and a decision is issued by the minister to determine the conditions, controls and procedures for granting and renewing the license and the duration of its validity, and determining the procedures for granting exceptional licenses to the visiting artist provided that these licenses are for short and specific periods, and the fee due to the license and its renewal, after the approval of the Council of Ministers.
The ministry gives a professional card to the licensed Bahraini artist, and it is determined by a decision of the minister the benefits and benefits of the card and the data it contains and the conditions and mechanisms of granting it and withdrawing it. A fee is imposed on the contracts of foreign artists who are not residing, as well as a fee on all the concerts they hold, and it is issued by specifying the categories of these fees and rules and the proportions of their increase and cases of exemption from them a decision by the minister after the approval of the Council of Ministers.
The term of membership in the Board of Directors of the Technical Professions Fund is three years, renewable for a similar period. He has all the powers needed to achieve the goals for which the fund was established, and it has the first: 1- Setting the general policy that guarantees the support and care of art and artists. The Fund and its expenses. 6- Preparing the administrative and financial regulations of the fund.
The Board of Directors meets at least a year at least, and the Speaker of the Council may invite him to meet whenever the need arises.
The Speaker of the Council must invite the meeting of an extraordinary meeting, which will be held within fifteen days from the date of his receipt of a reasonable written request from at least three members of the board of directors. In all cases, it must include notification of the call to hold the meeting, to clarify its purpose, and to accompany the agenda of this meeting. The Board of Directors may invite to attend its meetings who see the use of them from the people of experience or the concerned people to discuss them and listen to their opinions, and none of these have a counted voice. The meeting of the board of directors shall be correct in the presence of the majority of its members, provided that the Speaker or his deputy, and issues recommendations and decisions of the council by a majority of the votes of those present, and when equal, the side from which the president is favored.
The fund’s resources consist of the following: 1- The contributions paid by the members of the fund, and a decision shall be issued by the minister to determine these contributions. And any other resources accepted by the Board of Directors, not to contradict the goals of the fund.
With not prejudice to civil or criminal responsibility, everyone who exercises the profession without a license, from the ministry or pay the prescribed fees, is punished with one of the following administrative penalties: 1- A warning of the violator in writing.
The proposal aims to consolidate the legal protection of technical practice and raise it to the level of the profession recognized by legislation and organization. Based on the spirit of the constitution, and based on what its supreme texts decided to sponsor the state of the arts and its care for the creators, and to enhance the status of the Bahraini artist as one of the pillars of the national cultural identity, the proposal comes by law to establish a solid legislative framework that regulates technical professions, preserves the rights of their owners, and congratulates a legislative environment incubating creativity. It has become necessary – in light of the expansion of artistic activity and the increasing challenges surrounding it – to formulate integrated legislation concerned with technical professions.
It also aims to establish an umbrella of economic and social sponsorship that preserves the Bahraini artist his dignity, and achieves living security for him, as the absence of a legal organization for artistic professions is weaker than the Bahraini artist’s ability to compete, and his deprivation of professional and economic guarantees that are necessary for his creative and social stability, and from here, the establishment of a fund for technical professions, and the determination of his funding sources and mechanisms for supporting its members, is a qualitative shift in achieving justice. Professional for national artists, without influencing the state’s general budget.
The proposal aims to uphold the arts of the arts as an inherent component in the civilized construction, because the country that deals with art, but it exists from the value of man, stimulates creativity, establishes tolerance and beauty, as well as that consciousness and art is not a luxury, but rather the necessity of its effects in the whole society, and for this the organization and protection of artistic professions rise to public affairs, and contribute to the advancement of national culture as one of the national culture The tributaries of sustainable development and supports the proposal cultural sovereignty and enhancing balance in the artistic sector, by organizing the entry of foreign artists and collecting fair fees from their activities, in order to achieve the principle of equal opportunities, and in recognition of the priority of the Bahraini artist in representing the country technically, and the legitimate right to grant him sufficient space for growth, appearance and influence. It is considered that establishing controls and criteria for licensing, establishing a professional card, and forming the fund’s board of directors includes technical and administrative experiences, represents a solid step towards institutional empowerment of technical professions, and devotes the principle of specialization in managing cultural and artistic affairs.
Based on the foregoing, the approval of this law is a legislative necessity, in response to the provisions of the constitution, and to meet the requirements of the times, and reflects the state’s vision in supporting culture and creativity, as it is a firm brick in the project of building the state of culture and art.
