From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
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Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, has today welcomed the publication of the first reports compiled from data collected as part of the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pilot scheme.
Minister Catherine Martin said:
“Delivery of this pilot scheme has been a key priority for me. I am reassured from the findings, which demonstrate that artists and creative arts workers in receipt of the payment are experiencing less anxiety and depression, spending more time working in their chosen fields, and investing more in their arts career. It shows that the scheme has had a positive impact during the first six months of payments and has the potential to transform creative practice.
“I look forward to seeing the Basic Income research as it emerges over the next two years. My ambition is that the scheme makes it possible for artists to have self-sustaining careers in the arts without the need to work in other sectors out of economic necessity.
“Although these initial findings are positive, the reports that we are publishing alongside these also highlight the reality for artists and creative arts workers in Ireland at the moment. They are further evidence of the challenges our artists face on a daily basis and the sacrifices they make to progress their artistic work. It reaffirms the need for a scheme like the Basic Income for the Arts and for the accompanying research that will help in our efforts to support the arts in Ireland to thrive and grow.”
The reports into the arts sector have been compiled from data collected from BIA pilot participants and are available at the following links:
“Demographics of the Arts Sector” and “Arts Work Perspectives” form part of a series of papers called A Portrait of the Arts Sector which are being drawn from data collected before payments to BIA recipients began. These papers illustrate conditions for artists before the introduction of the Basic Income.
The first Impact Assessment (6-month) of the Basic Income Pilot Scheme is also published today. It outlines changes to date that the BIA recipients have experienced within the first 6 months of receiving the payment. Similar reports will be published tracking the changes throughout the 3-year pilot research scheme.
The pilot has been designed as a randomised control trial (RCT), where one group receives the payment (treatment group, or “BIA recipients”) and another group does not (control group). Comparing the differences in the outcomes of both groups over time allows researchers to examine the effects of the policy.
All BIA participants, which include those in receipt of the payment and the control group, are required to engage in the ongoing data collection. Throughout the pilot research programme, participants will compile the same survey on their lives and creative practice every 6 months.
Maria Fleming, Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts, said:
"The Basic Income initiative is a landmark commitment of the government to invest in the Arts industries of Ireland. With most recent figures showing that the Arts industry has been one of the slowest to recover from the pandemic, the trial of the Basic Income provides a much needed stabilisation to the precarious working conditions of our highly skilled arts workforce. The NCFA applauds the scheme, and welcomes these reports as further evidence to support the need for its full scale rollout after the pilot phase."
The reports have been prepared by The Basic Income for the Arts Research Team. The Initial Impact Assessment (6-month) has been peer reviewed by the ESRI and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The reports published today are the first in a series of statistical releases intended to inform policy making and research in the arts sector. Two series of papers will be published:
1. A Portrait of the Arts Sector
2. BIA Impact Papers
A Portrait of the Arts Sector series leverages the data collected as part of the initial baselining/pre-intervention survey of participants in the Basic Income for the Arts pilot, and aims to provide insights into conditions for artists prior to the introduction of the BIA. This research is unprecedented, given the scale of the research both in terms of the number of participants, as well as the richness and variety of data collected. In future, A Portrait of the Arts Sector may examine themes such as: Earnings and Spending of Artists and Creative Arts Workers; Artist and Creative Arts Worker Well-being; the Nature of Artistic Practices; Experiences of Equality and Inclusion in the Arts.
BIA Impact Papers will evaluate the impact of the Basic Income for the Arts. Outcomes will be tracked over time for both the Treatment Group (that is, those in receipt of the BIA) and the Control Group (who are not receiving the BIA). Groups are compared to each other over time, as well as to their initial outcomes at baseline.
Participants in the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme are taking part in a three- year research programme to assess the impact of a basic-income-style payment on the arts sector.
Payments of €325 per week are being made to artists and creative arts workers in the Treatment Group over the course of the scheme.
Participants are required to engage in an ongoing data collection programme to assess the impact of a basic income style payment on their creative practice.
To assist with this, a cohort of eligible applicants who were not selected to receive the payment have been participating in a control group to facilitate the evaluation of the pilot.
The research released today in the first “post-intervention” report uses comparisons in the data received from those receiving the payment and those in the control group, as well as comparing the data with that returned before the payments began.
Initial findings from the post-intervention report: