As part of the Culturelink Guest Lecture Series, on 2 September 2025, at the Library of the Institute for Development and International Relations, Prof. Paraic Mc Quaid, a researcher in cultural policy and arts management at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, delivered a lecture entitled “Basic Income for Artists: Assessment of the Irish Pilot”.
The lecture focused on presenting and critically assessing the innovative programme launched by the Irish Government, which tests the introduction of a basic income scheme for artists and cultural workers in the period 2022-2026.
Prof. Mc Quaid first presented the broader socio-political context and the public policy background that led to the establishment of the model while also highlighting key discourses within the discussions of the cultural sector that preceded the introduction of the pilot project. He then outlined the objectives and methodology of the pilot project, presenting preliminary results and discussing implementation challenges to open a discussion on its potential social and cultural impacts. The lecture generated considerable interest from the audience, particularly given the current discussions on the status of independent artists in Croatia and the challenges related to the position of artists and cultural workers in Europe and beyond. The data from the project evaluation report shows a statistically significant impact of the basic income for artists on almost all indicators: on the development of artistic practice, retention in the sector, general well-being and deprivation. Artists were able to focus more on their own work (12%) and experimenting (14%) and create more works of art (in 65% of cases). Further discussion opened questions on how the results of the pilot project can be used in the talks on Universal Basic Income, on the sustainability of such a model in Ireland within the current political climate, and on the applicability of such a model in other socio-political contexts. Prof. Mc Quaid also opened questions about the problem of competition among artists, the collective action of artists in a given context, and to what extent models like the one presented can bring about significant change within the current neoliberal capitalist paradigm.
We are also sharing Prof. Mc Quaid’s presentation from the lecture: link to the presentation.
