A disabled artist has said she is “back to worrying” about how she will be able to afford her rent after receiving her last payment under the pilot Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) scheme.
Maryam Madani (36), originally from Dublin and currently living in Bettystown, Co Meath, with her partner, was in receipt of the scheme until last month.
Madani, who has set up the Basic Income for Artists’ Alliance to support and advocate for artists who have been on the scheme, said they had once again been “thrown back into deprivation” following the announcement of the successor programme.
The successor to the pilot BIA scheme was announced last month and will see 2,000 eligible artists selected to receive the payment of €325 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.
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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’t be eligible for the payment in the next cycle, but may reapply in the cycle following that.
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.
Madani, who practises as a wheelchair dancer along with writing, said receiving the basic income for the last three years was “truly life-changing”.
“It gave me time and respite from financial stress, enabling me to pay my rent without anxiety and deepen my artistic practices,” she said.
“It 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.”
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However, in the months leading up to the announcement of the successor scheme, Madani said she and other artists “lived 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”.
“I received my last payment this month [February] and I’m back to the same financial and existential anxiety I experienced 3½ years ago before the scheme started, back to worrying about how I’m going to be able to afford my rent in the coming months,” she said.
“I 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.”
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.
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.
“People don’t understand that even for established artists, grants and payment within the arts sector remains unstable and precarious by nature,” she said.
“Three years is simply not enough time to establish one’s 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.”
The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media said the timelines for the ending of the pilot scheme were “consistently communicated” to participants.
“The BIA is not a social welfare scheme and therefore eligibility does not confer an entitlement to receive the payment,” it said.
“All applicants will need to demonstrate they are eligible under the new scheme’s 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.”
