{"id":330043,"date":"2026-03-05T09:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/330043\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T09:44:08","slug":"disabled-artist-is-back-to-worrying-about-how-she-will-afford-rent-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/330043\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled artist is \u2018back to worrying\u2019 about how she will afford rent \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A disabled<\/a> artist has said she is \u201cback to worrying\u201d about how she will be able to afford her rent<\/a> after receiving her last payment under the pilot Basic Income for the Arts<\/a> (BIA) scheme. <\/p>\n

Maryam Madani (36), originally from Dublin and currently living in Bettystown, Co Meath<\/a>, with her partner, was in receipt of the scheme until last month.<\/p>\n

Madani, who has set up the Basic Income for Artists\u2019 Alliance to support and advocate for artists who have been on the scheme, said they had once again been \u201cthrown back into deprivation\u201d following the announcement of the successor programme. <\/p>\n

The successor to the pilot BIA scheme was announced last month and will see 2,000 eligible artists selected to receive the payment of \u20ac325 per week. The payment will be for three years and will also feature a tapering-off period of three months at the end of the cycle.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Enormous distress\u2019 among current arts income recipients after new scheme announcementOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The new scheme will operate in three-year cycles, with artists being eligible for every three out of six years. This means that, if selected in 2026 to 2029 for the payment, an artist won\u2019t be eligible for the payment in the next cycle, but may reapply in the cycle following that.<\/p>\n

Those who were on the pilot who meet the eligibility criteria for the new scheme may apply for the BIA when applications open in May, with payments due to begin before the end of the year. Pilot recipients got their last payment in February.<\/p>\n

Madani, who practises as a wheelchair dancer along with writing, said receiving the basic income for the last three years was \u201ctruly life-changing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave me time and respite from financial stress, enabling me to pay my rent without anxiety and deepen my artistic practices,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave me confidence and validation as an artist and alleviated my worries and doubts about whether I could make a career in the arts a viable option.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0What\u2019s happening with the basic income for artists scheme?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

However, in the months leading up to the announcement of the successor scheme, Madani said she and other artists \u201clived in a state of anxiety and kept in limbo, given nuggets of hope, only to have them dashed in the end and to be once more thrown back into deprivation and poverty\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI received my last payment this month [February] and I\u2019m back to the same financial and existential anxiety I experienced 3\u00bd years ago before the scheme started, back to worrying about how I\u2019m going to be able to afford my rent in the coming months,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am worried about how long I can burn through my savings to do so. There are people in the group who are facing losing their apartments entirely, and artists who are going back to struggling to support their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Madani also said her disability allowance halved while she was on the scheme, but she plans to apply for the successor programme when applications open. <\/p>\n

She said she would continue to advocate for all pilot participants to be retained under the scheme and for it to be extended to all eligible artists. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t understand that even for established artists, grants and payment within the arts sector remains unstable and precarious by nature,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Basic Income for the Arts is now permanent. But for artists who apply, the money is notOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThree years is simply not enough time to establish one\u2019s practice to the level that it can counteract the nature of the sector. This was the reasoning behind the basic income for the arts to begin with.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media<\/a> said the timelines for the ending of the pilot scheme were \u201cconsistently communicated\u201d to participants. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe BIA is not a social welfare scheme and therefore eligibility does not confer an entitlement to receive the payment,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll applicants will need to demonstrate they are eligible under the new scheme\u2019s guidelines. Therefore, while eligible pilot participants may apply, eligibility for the pilot does not automatically mean an artist is eligible for future rounds of the scheme.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A disabled artist has said she is \u201cback to worrying\u201d about how she will be able to afford…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[89080,72,22811,420,61,60,15949,3665],"class_list":["post-330043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-basic-income-for-the-arts","tag-business","tag-department-of-tourism","tag-disability","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-meath","tag-renting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}