{"id":252335,"date":"2026-01-26T10:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T10:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252335\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T10:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T10:48:14","slug":"should-artists-get-a-basic-income-like-they-do-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/252335\/","title":{"rendered":"Should artists get a basic income like they do in Ireland?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Kirsty McArthur is a Glasgow-based freelance artist <\/p>\n

Ask Kirsty McArthur what she does for work and she’ll tell you: “I’m an artist.”<\/p>\n

After a brief pause, she’ll add: “And lots of other things.”<\/p>\n

Like so many freelance creatives, Glasgow-based McArthur has juggled her visual art practice with various sources of income to make ends meet, from teaching art workshops to occasional hospitality work.<\/p>\n

“I am so close to burnout – all the time,” the 29-year-old says.<\/p>\n

Unions and experts are increasingly warning that many are struggling to make a living in the arts sector due to low pay, patchy work and the high cost of living.<\/p>\n

One potential solution now being looked into in Scotland is for the government to pay artists directly – a so-called basic income for the arts.<\/p>\n

The idea comes from Ireland, where a no-strings-attached scheme paying 1,300 euro per month (about \u00a31,134) to some musicians and artists was recently made permanent.<\/p>\n

Leading Scottish artists and music industry figures – including the national poet and the head of Celtic Connections festival – are calling on the Scottish government to introduce a similar scheme or risk a cultural “desert”.<\/p>\n

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson told the BBC he’s “looking into it”.<\/p>\n

The ‘envy of the world’<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Actor Br\u00edan \u00d3 S\u00failleabh\u00e1in says a basic income for artists is a “no-brainer”<\/p>\n

Ireland introduced the ‘Basic Income for the Arts’ pilot scheme in the aftermath of Covid-19 in 2022.<\/p>\n

The trial saw 2,000 individual artists – musicians, painters, comedians, poets and others – drawn from a lottery system to take part in the experimental arts funding scheme.<\/p>\n

Br\u00edan \u00d3 S\u00failleabh\u00e1in quit his day job in a wine and spirits shop when he found out he was one of the lucky 2,000, now able to take a risk on acting work.<\/p>\n

“It was life-changing,” the actor, 29, says.<\/p>\n

“Without the Basic Income, I would have had to go back to the day job, but because I had the Basic Income, I didn’t have to do that.<\/p>\n

“I had a sort of safety cushion that I could live on until the next job came along. And of course, the next job did come along.”<\/p>\n

For \u00d3 S\u00failleabh\u00e1in, trusting artists with direct payments is a “no-brainer” – one that he hopes will stop younger and less wealthy people giving up on artistic work.<\/p>\n

“What does an artist like to do?” he says.<\/p>\n

“They like to make art. If you give money to an artist, they will make art.”<\/p>\n

The Basic Income for the Arts was deemed a success and made permanent in October 2025.<\/p>\n

Artists on the scheme reported being happier, spending more time on art and less time on non-artistic work, when compared with a ‘control group’ of artists not on the scheme. <\/p>\n

Irish culture minister Patrick O’Donovan called the scheme “the envy of the world”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Patrick O’Donovan called the scheme “the envy of the world”<\/p>\n

Supporting culture is important to Irish national identity, according to O’Donovan.<\/p>\n

“It’s the same as education, it’s the same as health, it’s the same as social protection or justice or filling potholes,” he says.<\/p>\n

“Investing in the arts is something that we know we get back.”<\/p>\n

Irish government assessments of the approximately \u20ac100m Basic Income for Arts grant scheme found that for every \u20ac1 invested – the scheme contributed \u20ac1.39 to the wider economy through administrative and welfare savings, social impacts, and tax generated.<\/p>\n

With the permanent scheme due to start later in 2026, questions are being raised about what will happen to the 2,000 people on the pilot – such as \u00d3 S\u00failleabh\u00e1in – when the pilot scheme ends.<\/p>\n

But while the scheme was made permanent – the Irish government does not plan to expand the scheme to many more people immediately.<\/p>\n

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” O’Donovan says to those who question why.<\/p>\n

Scottish culture at a ‘crossroads’?<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Scottish national poet – the Makar – Peter MacKay supports a basic income scheme for the arts<\/p>\n

The Scottish national poet – the Makar, Peter MacKay – knows Ireland well. It’s where he began his writing career.<\/p>\n

He is among those calling for the introduction of a Basic Income for the Arts in Scotland.<\/p>\n

“I think it will just contribute to the cultural life of the country in ways that we can’t even understand right now,” he says.<\/p>\n

“There will be new things on the television, new things on the radio, on the stages, there will be new novels on the shelves.”<\/p>\n

MacKay acknowledges that some may question whether it would be a responsible use of money with public finances so tight but he thinks the potential far outweighs the risk.<\/p>\n

“If we don’t have this support for art, it will be very, very difficult for many people even to imagine that they could be an artist,” he says.<\/p>\n

“They won’t have a chance to make a living that way. They might not think, when they’re young, ‘I could be a writer, I could be a professional musician’ – and we’ll lose lots of our culture.<\/p>\n

“We’ll lose new voices and new ways of thinking. Our entire culture will just wither.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Donald Shaw is Creative Director of the Celtic Connections music festival <\/p>\n

The man behind the Celtic Connections music festival, too, warns of Scottish culture becoming a “very dry desert” if more isn’t done.<\/p>\n

Donald Shaw feels Scotland is approaching a “crossroads”.<\/p>\n

“I think that we are at a point where it’s harder and harder for musicians to find a way, particularly early in their life, where they go ‘can I really believe in myself as a musician’ and ‘can I make a living from it and be someone – or do I have to sign up here for a job that allows me to pay the bills,” he says.<\/p>\n

Asked what one thing he thinks might make a difference, Shaw recommended a simplified, more direct funding model.<\/p>\n

In other words: “A basic income. That would help,” he says<\/p>\n

Could Scotland adopt an artists’ basic income?<\/p>\n

\"PAPA Media<\/p>\n

Culture Secretary Angus Robertson is “looking into” how a basic income for arts might work in Scotland<\/p>\n

In Scotland, culture funding has tended to be focussed on arts organisations.<\/p>\n

But the wider approach is under review by the Scottish government.<\/p>\n

This follows an independent report focussed on funding body Creative Scotland <\/a>that found criticism in the sector of the ‘trickle-down’ funding model, from government to organisations to individual artists.<\/p>\n

The same report notes demand for an Ireland-like scheme. A separate Scottish government-commissioned taskforce also recommended steps be taken towards copying the scheme in Scotland. <\/p>\n

Unions, including the Scottish Artists’ Union and Equity as well as the body representing trade unions, the STUC, are also calling for a basic income for arts workers. <\/p>\n

The Scottish government is upping culture funding, with an extra \u00a334m pledged in the latest budget, towards a target of an over-all \u00a3100m increase to annual funding.<\/p>\n

But the calls for a different, more individual-focussed approach are being heard.<\/p>\n

“It’s very well known that there’s a particular challenge for freelancers working in the culture and arts sector,” Culture Secretary Angus Robertson says.<\/p>\n

“We know this is an issue.”<\/p>\n

Robertson says work needs done to understand how such a ‘basic income’ type grant scheme could work with the Scottish tax and welfare system.<\/p>\n

But he has made an enthusiastic commitment to “look into” copying the Irish scheme.<\/p>\n

“This is about people making the most of their creative talents, and that pays back to society financially and in other ways,” he says.<\/p>\n

“If that works there [in Ireland] then it’s definitely something we should be looking at here.”<\/p>\n

Stories you may have missed<\/p>\n

But with an election in May, major decisions on culture policy will depend on that election’s outcome.<\/p>\n

Ireland’s public finance situation also differs from Scotland’s. The Irish Government operates a budget surplus and plans to increase its savings coffers. <\/p>\n

Kirsty McArthur hopes a basic income for the arts scheme will expand her city’s cultural scene.<\/p>\n

“Glasgow’s best painters and filmmakers are stuck working in a pub for minimum wage,” she says.<\/p>\n

“It would only benefit everyone, if more people had access to creative work.”<\/p>\n

Donald Shaw agrees.<\/p>\n

“You need to think about it as the seed that sown and the flower that comes up in the years to come.<\/p>\n

“Not only the flower but the forest, really.<\/p>\n

“It’ll increase the number of people working in the arts and the traditional music scene.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC Kirsty McArthur is a Glasgow-based freelance artist Ask Kirsty McArthur what she does for work and she’ll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-252335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}