Ireland Is Paying a Basic Income of €325 (About $350) a Week to Artists and Creatives. Will America Ever Catch Up?

Ireland has extended its Basic Income for the Arts program through 2026, offering guaranteed weekly pay to 2,000 artists and creatives.

 

In 2022, the Irish government launched a groundbreaking initiative called the Basic Income for the Arts, a three-year pilot program providing €325 (about $350) per week to 2,000 artists and creative workers. The goal is to address the chronic financial instability faced by working artists and to recognize the time, labor, and value of creative practice.

 

The program introduced by Ireland’s Department of Culture, Communications and Sport represents a bold government-level acknowledgment that art is work deserving of stable income, not just applause. Recipients were selected at random from a pool of eligible applicants and will receive the payment on a monthly basis for three years while continuing to earn other income.

 

The project studies the impact of a guaranteed income on artistic productivity, well-being, and the broader creative economy, comparing participants with a control group of peers who did not receive the stipend. It is the first of its kind globally, directly inspired by lessons learned during the pandemic when many artists were left without any safety net.

 

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called the initiative “truly transformative in how Ireland supports the arts,” while Culture Minister Catherine Martin said it “represents a fundamental change in the way Ireland supports and recognizes its artists.”

 

Originally set to end in August 2025, the Basic Income for the Arts pilot has been extended through February 2026. The Irish government granted a six-month extension to ensure continuity for participants and to prepare for a successor program that could make the support permanent.

 

This means that artists across Ireland will continue receiving their €325 weekly payments while the government evaluates long-term models for sustaining creative income. The extension signals strong political and public support for the idea that artistic labor deserves lasting financial protection.

 

While Ireland is paying artists to create, and UK songwriters recently won non-recoupable per diems from major labels after years of advocacy and government pressure, the United States, the world’s number one music hub, still lacks a national program to support working artists, songwriters, and producers.

 

If smaller nations can afford to invest in their creative workers, what is stopping the largest entertainment economy in the world from doing the same?