Ireland has made its Basic Income for the Arts scheme permanent, with 2,000 places paying artists a set weekly amount for three years and the first 750 successful applicants being told this week
The Irish Government has started notifying the first successful applicants to its new Basic Income for the Arts scheme, which pays working artists €325 a week for three years and has been made a permanent part of the arts funding system.
Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan announced on 13 October that up to 750 successful applicants would be notified in the first tranche, with contact beginning on Thursday 15 October and further groups to follow. All applicants are due a status update this week, and unsuccessful applicants will be told as soon as possible. The scheme has 2,000 places for practising professional artists whose creative practice is based in the Republic of Ireland, and the Department received just over 10,000 applications, so about one in five applicants will get a place.
Each place pays €325 a week for three years, which the Department also sets out as €1,413.21 a month and which works out at roughly €16,900 a year. Payments made in 2026 are backdated to September 2026, while those first paid in 2027 start from or are backdated to January 2027. Successful applicants need to sign an agreement accepting the terms and conditions and provide banking and Revenue details and proof of address. Full funding of €34.4 million was secured in Budget 2027, and O’Donovan prioritised the full-year cost so payments could begin as soon as possible.
The scheme grew out of a pilot started during the pandemic by former minister Catherine Martin, and the Government says the evidence from the pilot, both quantitative and qualitative, demonstrated a clear need, pointing to the precarious nature of artists’ incomes and the effect on their wellbeing. Guidelines for the successor scheme were published on 1 April 2026 and applications closed on 12 May. O’Donovan described the scheme as a game changer that is now here to stay.
Australia has no equivalent national scheme, and a guaranteed weekly income is the kind of support that Australian artists, crew and the music venues that rely on them have often said is missing when work is irregular and gigs are cancelled at short notice. ALMBC members will be watching how the Irish scheme performs over its first three-year cycle.
