Elaine Desmond from the National Campaign for the Arts makes a case for the retention of the Basic Income for the Arts scheme, currently under review after a three-year pilot period.
The scheme aims to support the arts and creative practice by giving a weekly payment of €325 a week to artists and creative arts workers. Two thousand artists and arts workers nationwide are currently receiving the payment.
It would be an interesting social experiment to ask people to wipe the arts entirely from their lives for a week and see how they felt at the end of it. Because it would not just be the more obvious aspects, like books, films and live entertainment, which would be lost. It would be the everyday, taken-for-granted parts of life like background music in shops, Spotify, Netflix, TV, buskers, paintings and posters on the walls of homes, street signage and murals, cards for special occasions. There would be no playing of instruments, no writing of poetry, dance classes or singing. The arts are so endemic to peoples' lives, that it is almost impossible to imagine a world without them. We saw how essential they were during the Covid pandemic. When people’s survival was on the line – or when they needed to heal from the grief of loss - their immediate response was to reach for the arts.
And the arts continue to play a central role in Irish society. Artists generate business. In July this year, the Arts Council published research which estimated that €1.5 bn was spent on attending arts events in Ireland in 2024, with associated benefits to restaurants, parking and accommodation providers, etc. Abroad, too, the arts represent a sector where Ireland really does punch above its weight. Ireland’s remarkable heritage of fine poets, writers and artists has paved the way for Irish people seeking to do business all over the world. And yet, while other sectors of Irish society - such as big tech and pharma industries - all receive government subsidies, the arts do not.
Artists themselves continue to struggle for recognition and proper support. The arts are significantly underfunded. As a writer, I compete for Arts Council awards where the demand for funding can be six times greater than the funding available and where just twenty per cent of projects are funded. Artists are struggling daily to survive in Ireland. They are often looking to social welfare to subsidise their artistic practice – and being classified as 'unemployed’ - with many opting to leave the arts and/or leave Ireland entirely. A pilot scheme which allocated a basic income of just €325 to 2,000 artists for the past three years highlighted the enormous difference to the mental health and creativity of the artists involved. Research conducted prior to this pilot found that three times more artists were found to be living in deprivation than in the general population. This means that artists are being disproportionately impacted by the crises in housing, health, cost of living, etc. which are making life in Ireland so difficult for many.
To award just 8,000 artists a basic income of just €325 per week would represent 0.13 per cent of the total Irish budget. This would be less than the current allocation for sports at 0.19 per cent in the 2024 budget. The National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA) is asking for the government to retain, extend, and expand the basic income for the arts, the pilot study for which is due to expire in February, 2026. They are also asking that the basic income for artists be rolled out beyond a pilot on a statutory basis and for a more permanent funding commitment. The NCFA’s call is about the need to recognise the centrality of the arts to the Irish economy, and Irish society and culture, and to support Irish artists in the amazing work they produce. As artists, we are asking to have our work properly remunerated and valued amid the growing hardships of financial crises, and limited and highly competitive funding. As artists, we are asking for fairness.
About The Author: Elaine Desmond is a writer of fiction and non-fiction, based in Mallow. She has published a non-fiction book entitled Legitimation in a World at Risk and worked as a freelance writer for UNESCO and University College Cork. Her fiction short stories have been awarded at the Wexford Literary Festival and short-listed for the prestigious Bridport and Fish short story prizes. She is one of the Munster Coordinators for the National Campaign for the Arts.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
