The basic income guarantee scheme for artists and arts workers being piloted this year, will be “a stabilising and supportive financial measure to those who give so much to the public”.
This is the view of the deputy Mayor of Galway, Green Party Galway City Central councillor, Martina O’Connor.
Minister for the Arts, Catherine Martin, is introducing the scheme, which will have a budget of €25 million, and will initially run for three years. It will likely involve a weekly payment of approximately €325 a week.
Full details on eligibility, selection process, and roll out are expected later this month, with the pilot set to begin in April.
'Precarious'
The scheme is in response to the Covid-19 pandemic which has seen the arts sector become the most impacted by the consequent restrictions. It is “to enable artists and creative arts workers to focus on artistic production/practice without having to enter into employment in other sectors to sustain themselves”.
Cllr O’Connor [pictured below] has welcomed the scheme. “In Galway we have always known we loved the arts,” she said, “but only during the pandemic did we become acutely aware of how precarious their employment stability is, and how much the community’s general wellbeing is influenced by the continued availability of a vibrant arts sector.”
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The basic income guarantee scheme for artists will be administered via the Department of Arts and Culture, and not through the Department of Social Protection, as it is not a Universal Basic Income.
However a UBI is part of the Programme for Government and Cllr O’Connor believes such a scheme will become vital in the coming years.
“Environmentalists predict employment will change dramatically due to climate change,” she said. “Universal Basic Income can be a stabilising resource in times of change and market dips with people able to rely on a basic income in times of stress and then top this up when employment, In their skill set, is more plentiful.”
