ALE
Sindicato de Artistas Líricos de España
Who are we ?
A.L.E., Sindicato de Artistas Líricos de España, was founded in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis as previously within the performing Arts and Music in Spain, Opera had no representation or voice of its own.
Who do we represent ?
A.L.E. is open to all opera artists with Spanish nationality or Spanish residence card; freelancers and those with intermittent jobs that are part of lyric productions, private events as solo singers, conductors and assistants, stage directors and assistants, piano accompanists and repetition masters, set designers, costume designers, audiovisual and lighting designers, and guest solo musicians. We also welcome artists from other performing arts disciplines who work in opera productions.
Contact
Enric Martìnez-Castignani
Our vision / mission
We believe in the necessity of defending and improving professional conditions of opera workers. We work to unify the contracting criteria in a single employment model under the Special Scheme for Artists of the Seguridad Social. This maintains our current full health coverage and, under the Artist's Statute, offers us a contribution system that guarantees us access to unemployment benefits like other workers and future decent pensions, without the need to be forced to contribute as Self-Employed. It is possible to defend the rights of Artists without being fighting permanently with the Theatres; they are not our enemies and we both need each other. In the same way, we want to be more than just a trade union and to be able to offer our members a close relationship and services that go beyond the only labour issue.
.L.E., Sindicato de Artistas Líricos de España, was founded on 25 March 2020, amid the COVID-19 crisis and after confirming the sad reality of the Lyric Arts in our country: being the only collective of artists, within the Performing Arts and Music, that had no representation or voice of its own.
It is clear to us that, although we were born as a consequence of this crisis that has hit our society, our economy and, we would even say, our values, the aim of our organization must be to contribute to change how Culture is managed in our country and to try to ensure that we lyric artists have better and fairer working conditions and, above all, that we do so with the security of seeing and feeling protected.
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A.L.E. is open to all lyric artists, with Spanish nationality or Spanish residence card, freelance and with intermittent jobs that are part of lyric productions and private events as solo singers, conductors, stage directors, and assistants, accompanying pianists, set designers, costume, audiovisual and lighting designers, and guest solo musicians. We also welcome artists from other performing disciplines who work in opera productions as actors, dancers, or extras; performers with other types of employment agreements and stable contracts such as chorus singers and orchestra musicians; and we even want agents, opera impresarios, theatre managers, composers, and singing teachers and students to find a home in our Union.
A.L.E. aims to give Lyrica the place it deserves among the artistic collectives, as a singular performing art in its own right, beyond Music and Theatre. We are not here for politics or barricade unionism. It is possible to defend the rights of the Artists without being in permanent confrontation with the Theatres; they are not our enemies and we both need each other. In the same way, we want to be more than just a trade union and to be able to offer our members a close relationship and services that go beyond the professional relationships.
We believe in the need to unify the contracting criteria in a single labor model under the Special Scheme for Artists of the Social Security, which maintains our current full health coverage and which, under the Artist's Statute, offers us an affordable contribution system that guarantees us access to unemployment benefits like other workers and decent pensions, in the future, without the need to be forced to contribute as Self-Employed.
In A.L.E. we will not leave behind the singers who live from small shows, concerts, recitals, masses, events, ..., and for whom we will defend dignified conditions and legal contracts that guarantee their protection and access to aid and benefits. Nor do we want to forget the entrepreneurs of private lyric companies who pay their taxes and generate an important and essential pool of work.
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TESTIMONY
"Living the creation of the LyriCoalition is a very enriching personal experience. It means, being part of a new reality, to have the beautiful opportunity to improve the rights of opertic workers in Europe, fight against harassment all together, finding our common points of view and enjoying our differences!"