Press release
Minister Catherine Martin launches Online Consultation on pilot Basic Income for the Arts
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
Today (Thursday, 6 January 2022) Catherine Martin, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media launched an online consultation on the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pilot scheme to elicit the views of artists, those working in the arts and culture sector and the public.
The online consultation opens today and is available for response until the consultation closes on 27 January 2022.
The online consultation follows a successful stakeholder forum on 15 December that saw over 150 participants from 50 artists and arts workers resource and representative bodies come together to discuss the proposal and provide their views and feedback to the Minister and her department.
As Minister with responsibility for arts and culture, Catherine Martin, said:
“I encourage everyone interested to get involved in the online consultation for the Basic Income for the Arts pilot. Your views will help shape the final design of the pilot when it rolls out in the coming months. This is a once-in-a-generation policy intervention, a measure that I believe will redraw the landscape for the arts for hopefully many years to come. Our culture and the arts are a fundamental expression of who we are as a nation. Our rich cultural heritage is one of our greatest assets, and our artists weave a sense of identity, creativity and belonging into the fabric of our communities. The intrinsic societal value of culture and the arts was particularly evident during the pandemic, where it provided colour, light and hope in uncertain times.”
Minister Martin established the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce in 2020 as a response to the pandemic, and to provide a platform for solution-focused recommendations for the recovery of the arts and culture sector. The number one recommendation of the taskforce was the introduction of a basic income for the arts pilot scheme.
Minister Martin added:
“I have allocated €25 million in 2022 for the pilot basic income scheme for the arts. This is a key priority for me and my department. I am determined to ensure that permanent damage is not done to the arts sector from the pandemic and that the basic income pilot scheme helps to ensure that the arts in Ireland come back stronger than ever.”
The purpose of the online consultation is to ensure that the general public, artists and those working in the arts and culture sector have the opportunity to contribute to the policy development for the pilot scheme and to offer suggestions from their experiences as artists, arts workers and members of resource organisations on key issues such as the schemes objectives, eligibility criteria, supporting emerging artists and participant responsibilities.
The Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme will be launched in the coming months. Further details will be published on the department’s website after the feedback and input from the online consultation is assessed and finalised.
Following the Taskforce’s recommendation, the department has been working to develop a policy position and scheme overview for the Basic Income for Artists pilot with a view to launching the initiative in early 2022.
This process has involved broad engagement with government stakeholders, an examination of the international context and sectoral data. Broad consultation is central to this process, and the department has designed an online consultation that seeks views on objectives, eligibility criteria and participant responsibilities which will apply to the pilot scheme.
Inputs have been sought from stakeholders in two phases:
Phase 1: Stakeholder Forum
A successful Stakeholder Forum was held on 15 December, with over 50 sectoral stakeholders invited to participate. Input was collected and collated by a facilitator and this data forms part of the department’s development of the pilot scheme.
Phase 2: Online Public Consultation
Recognising the limitations of the stakeholder forum, the department is today commencing an online public consultation to gather further data, including from individual artists and creative arts workers. For equity, the public consultation will follow the same approach as the Stakeholder forum, with the publication of the consultation paper and a request that submissions respond to those same core questions relating to the objectives, eligibility criteria, selection process, and research and data considerations.