Basic Income for the Arts – Launch of Government Pilot Scheme

The Irish Government has launched a pioneering pilot scheme to support artists and creative arts workers. The Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme will run over a three year period (2022 – 2025) to examine the impact of a basic income on artists and creative arts workers. Payments of €325 per week will be made to 2,000 eligible artists and creative arts workers. The scheme will open for applications on 12 April 2022. 

The scheme was launched by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar TD and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD, at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin on 5 April. It is recognition, at Government level, of the important role of the arts in Irish society. It also places a value on the time spent developing a creative practice and producing art. The main objective of the scheme is to address the financial instability faced by many working in the arts.

Key Points

• The Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme will run over a 3-year period (2022 – 2025).
• The pilot scheme will be open to eligible artists and creative arts sector workers. It is important to note that that the Basic Income for the Arts is not a Universal Basic Income.
• Grants to the value of €325 per week will be paid to successful participants. Payments will be made on a monthly basis.
• These payments will be reckonable for the purposes of income tax. All successful participants will need to register with Revenue as self-employed.
• The Department expects a high volume of applications and it will not be possible to provide funding to all eligible applicants.
• Selection will be a non-competitive process. Once an applicant satisfies the eligibility criteria they will be included in an anonymised random sampling process to determine the pilot participants from the pool of eligible applicants for the BIA Pilot.
• Funding for the scheme will allow for approximately 2,000 eligible applicants to participate in the pilot scheme.

Application Streams
The scheme will have two application streams:

Stream 1: Practicing Artists and Creative Arts Workers. This covers all artists and creative arts workers who can demonstrate sufficient evidence of eligibility as set out below.

Stream 2: Recently trained applicants. This streams covers recently trained artists and creative arts workers who cannot yet demonstrate that they have engaged in a creative practice where their creative work makes a key contribution to the production, interpretation or exhibition of the arts.

Please Note: As this is a research pilot, it is important to apply to the stream which best represents your practice currently.

Further information regarding Stream 2: This stream is intended to research the impact of a basic income on those who have completed a relevant training course, graduate degree or an arts related apprenticeship who have not yet have engaged in a creative practice. A maximum of 200 places are available under this stream.

How to Apply
The portal will open for applications at 1pm on Tuesday 12 April and close at 1pm on Thursday 12 May. The portal and application form are available in English and in Irish.

Information on eligibility criteria and application guidelines can be found here: gov.ie/basicincomearts