Ireland's Basic Income for the Arts experiment has given creatives a weekly payment for three years. Now, a permanent program could be on the way.

As Ireland’s $1,500-a-month basic income pilot program for creatives nears its end in February, officials have to answer a simple question: Is it worth it?

With four months to go, they say the answer is yes.

Earlier this month, Ireland’s government announced its 2026 budget, which includes “a successor to the pilot Basic Income Scheme for the Arts to begin next year” among its expenditures.

Ireland is just one of many places experimenting with guaranteed basic income programs, which provide recurring, unrestricted payments to people in a certain demographic. These programs differ from a universal basic income, which would provide payments for an entire population.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
    221·
    2 months ago

    Ireland has a history of supporting artists, mostly with large tax breaks for ARTISTS. While journalists and scholars use writing extensively in their careers, they are not “artists” in the way that people tend to think of that concept. They are not creating art, they are creating knowledge. That’s an honorable endeavor, but it is not strictly art.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      mostly with large tax breaks for ARTISTS

      i mean yeah that barely costs ireland anything as artists are typically poor and therefore barely pay taxes anyways … /s

    • verdi@feddit.orgEnglish
      45·
      2 months ago

      I wasn’t implying journalism is art, I’m implying no government is going to give you the tools to depose them.

      Regarding “ARTISTS”, let’s see how many of the supported artists actually develop a craft rather than just producing content.

      • Jarix@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        2 months ago

        Many many many popular historical artists were not popular in their own time. The if it’s be an artist or go work for a living, that’s still people paying for things in their communities for however long that is. It’s entirely worth it even if they just create content. It’s a fair place to start imho

        • verdi@feddit.orgEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          The overwhelming majority of the EU population works in services industries, whereas we lack specialized tradespeople like construction specialists. If forced to choose, I’d rather see that UBI go to them to support an early retirement plan for those underapreciated classes that have physically demanding work. Anyone can be an artist, especially if we don’t need to have two jobs to make rent.