Basic Income for the Arts: what the pilot found and how the new scheme works

The Minister says the €325 weekly payment for artists is now permanent. Here is what the official evaluation of the pilot found, who can get the new scheme, how people are picked and what Budget 2027 provides.

Artists who got the Basic Income for the Arts were 38 percentage points less likely to be on a Jobseeker's payment than similar artists who did not. That is one finding from the official evaluation of the pilot. The Minister for Culture says the payment is now permanent.

What the payment is

The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pays selected artists €325 a week for three years. It is paid monthly, at €1,413.21. Artists can keep earning from their work and other jobs while they get it.

A pilot ran from 2022, with 2,000 artists. It was later extended for its current members to February 2026. On 10 February 2026, the Cabinet approved a new scheme to follow it.

The pilot was a controlled trial

The pilot was the first large randomised controlled trial run by the Irish Government. In a trial like this, people are picked at random for the payment. Others who applied but were not picked form a "control group" to compare against.

Out of 8,206 eligible applicants in 2022, 2,000 got the payment. Another 1,000 were picked at random for the control group. Economists in the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport ran the evaluation.

Recipients also spent less time on work outside the arts: about 6 hours a week, against almost 11 for the control group. Only 5.5% of recipients did no arts work at all, against 13.5% of the control group.

Less anxiety, less hardship

The payment made a big difference to how artists felt. The evaluation compared both groups in October 2024. Recipients rated their life satisfaction 7 out of 10, against 6 for the control group.

Enforced deprivation means going without basic items because you cannot afford them. At the start of the pilot, more than 56% of all the artists surveyed were deprived. Across the whole population, the 2024 rate was 15.7%.

What the cost-benefit study found

A separate cost-benefit analysis, published on 22 September 2025, put a money value on the pilot's effects. The Department said the pilot produced over €100 million in social and economic benefits.

• Wellbeing gains valued at almost €80 million
• Audience enjoyment of the art valued at €16.9 million
• Arts income rose by over €500 a month on average
• Income from other jobs fell by about €280 a month
• Social welfare payments fell by €100 a month on average
• Net cost to the State from 2021 to 2025: just under €72 million

The new scheme: 2026 to 2029

The new scheme pays 2,000 artists for three years, followed by a three-month taper. You can get it for three years in any six. So someone picked for 2026 to 2029 cannot get it again until the 2034 to 2037 cycle.

Applications ran from 15 April to 12 May 2026. Just over 10,000 people applied. That is roughly one place for every five applications.

More groups will be told later, and start dates may vary. Those first paid in 2026 will be backdated to September 2026. Those first paid in 2027 will be paid from, or backdated to, January 2027.

Who can apply, and how people are picked

• Practising professional artists living in Ireland, whose work is mainly based here
• Recent graduates from 2024 or 2025, with at least a Level 8 degree in a relevant practice-based course
• Former pilot members and control group members, if they meet the new rules
• Not eligible: people in full-time education, and Aosdána members getting the Cnuas payment

Applicants had to send three pieces of evidence of an active practice. Two had to come from an Irish organisation. Eligible applicants then go into an anonymous random draw.

The selected group is checked so it reflects a mix of age, gender, ethnicity and disability. Everyone selected must fill in surveys during the three years, or they can be removed from the scheme.

“The positive economic impact this report has revealed is a very encouraging outcome for the sector and the general public.”— Patrick O'Donovan, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, 22 September 2025

Budget 2027 funds a full year

Budget 2026 set aside €18.27 million for the scheme's first months. Budget 2027 provides €34.4 million to cover a full year for about 2,000 artists. The Department calls it a successor scheme, and the Minister says making it permanent was his priority.

That works out at about €17,200 per artist, close to the yearly value of the payment. The pilot cost between €35.3 million and €36.3 million a year from 2023 to 2025, before any savings.