Artists, musicians, writers, and performers in Ireland now receive a weekly ‘basic income’ of €325 ($329) from the Irish government.Originally announced in January 2022, the Basic Income for Artists plan is still in the works. Approximately €25 million ($23.3 million) will be spent on the initiative by the Minister for Culture and Arts. The program received over 9,000 applications, with 2,000 chosen. A random selection of participants was conducted to select those who would participate in the program. Most recipients will receive a three-year stipend, according to the BBC.The Irish Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, Catherine Martin, set up the basic income initiative for those working in the arts.Several ways were suggested by the task force to help the arts recovery from the effects of the pandemic. It is a condition of joining the program that you participate in a research project to find out how the payments have been impacting the economy.

A total of 764 Irish Basic Income grants have been awarded to musicians in Dublin. It is estimated that 700 visual artists, 584 musicians, 204 film creatives, and 184 writers have received the awards. Also selected were about 170 actors and theater professionals. Thirty-two of them are dancers and choreographers, thirteen of them are circus artists, and ten are architects. Irish is the language of work for 50 of the recipients.As the government acknowledged, basic income has been in high demand.

“There will be many disappointed people today who applied and weren’t selected,” says Irish Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin. The time and effort they put into applying is greatly appreciated and I understand their disappointment.”