Irish basic income scheme to pay artists $550 per week
Ireland has launched a permanent basic income program for the arts, pledging to pay 2,000 creative workers more than $A500 a week after a trial that participants said eased financial strain and allowed them to devote more time to projects.
Ireland began the three-year trial in 2022 to help artists recover from COVID-19 lockdowns.
While similar pilot applications are being tried in San Francisco and New York, Irish Minister of Culture Patrick O’Donovan in question This plan was the first permanent example of its kind in the world.
Launching the project in the James Joyce Room at Bewley’s Cafe, a cultural institution in Dublin that hosts lunchtime theater performances, O’Donovan said the move would “set Ireland apart from other countries in the value we place on culture and creativity”.
“This is a huge step forward that other countries have not taken.”
Randomly selected candidates will be given a payment of €325 ($A550) per week for three years, after which they will not be able to participate in the next three-year cycle.
O’Donovan said he wants to increase the number of buyers over time.
More than 8,000 applications were submitted for 2,000 places in the pilot programme.
A report on the hearing concluded that it reduced the likelihood of performers being subjected to forced deprivation, reducing their anxiety levels and dependence on additional income.
Increases in arts-related spending more than offset the trial’s net €72 million cost through productivity gains and reduced reliance on other welfare payments, according to a cost-benefit analysis commissioned by the government.
“The project was a real-world test of what happens when people are given stability rather than insecurity,” said composer and designer Peter Power, a member of the National Campaign for the Arts group.
“Artists participating in the project spent more time creating just to survive and less time stuck in unrelated jobs, and many became better able to sustain themselves through their work alone.”
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