Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 December 2023
86. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the level of funding provided to the basic income for the Arts Pilot Research Scheme in 2024 as part of the €1.17 billion in funding allocated to her Department in Budget 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53518/23]
View answerThe Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pilot is a key priority for me as Minister with responsibility for arts and culture. Covid highlighted both the precarious nature of working in the arts and the importance of the arts for us all. The BIA is a support to help artists develop self-sustaining self-employed creative practices.
The BIA pilot is a research project consisting of a longitudinal study with six monthly surveys. Survey data will be compared against a baseline survey which took place before payments began to the cohort of up to 2,000 eligible applicants who were chosen at random. The ambition of the pilot is to assess the impact of providing the security of a basic income, on artists and creative arts workers and on their ability to increase their earnings from their creative practice as a self-employed artist/creative.
The scheme and research programme we are conducting will provide a significant evidence base to inform future Government policy in the arts and has the potential to change the landscape of the arts in Ireland and how we fund it.
2,000 recipients were selected in 2022 to receive payment of €325 per week, payment to recipients has been ongoing since October 2022 and will continue to August 2025. The scheme is funded at €35m per year (approximately €105m over the three years). Therefore the 2024 cost will be €35m.
