cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/46478336
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Unions and experts are increasingly warning that many are struggling to make a living in the arts sector due to low pay, patchy work and the high cost of living.
One potential solution now being looked into in Scotland is for the government to pay artists directly - a so-called basic income for the arts.
The idea comes from Ireland, where a no-strings-attached scheme paying 1,300 euro per month (about £1,134) to some musicians and artists was recently made permanent.
Leading Scottish artists and music industry figures - including the national poet and the head of Celtic Connections festival - are calling on the Scottish government to introduce a similar scheme or risk a cultural “desert”.
Culture Secretary Angus Robertson told the BBC he’s “looking into it”.
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Ireland introduced the ‘Basic Income for the Arts’ pilot scheme in the aftermath of Covid-19 in 2022.
The trial saw 2,000 individual artists - musicians, painters, comedians, poets and others - drawn from a lottery system to take part in the experimental arts funding scheme.
Brían Ó Súilleabháin quit his day job in a wine and spirits shop when he found out he was one of the lucky 2,000, now able to take a risk on acting work.
“It was life-changing,” the actor, 29, says.
"Without the Basic Income, I would have had to go back to the day job, but because I had the Basic Income, I didn’t have to do that.
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Hmmm.
Yes but with conditions?
Part of their art is public (so like, installed in public places- city/town halls, parks. Libraries.)
This might look like just paying commissions.
Just spit balling here.
And we’d need to talk about some practical limits of who is an artist. All I know, is that there are artists, and then there are people who think they are. And then there’s the genuinely offensive people, and the people getting rejected because of pearl clutching.
Standing by for the standard “loicense” joke…
While we wait for that, it might be worth discussing that bit about public art. You could definitely do that, but it might make more sense to simply require that any artistic output be released in a free (within the UK) format with attribution, and have them put some smart looking crest on it saying it was partly funded by this program. Then each submission could be tagged and added to a public art bank, which is then usable (with attribution) by anyone in the country for public works or private usage. And maybe businesses too, if they pay enough into the UBI scheme? Feels risky.
that would make a lot of sense for digital formats.
I was thinking for more physical media- possibly including bits and bobs that don’t survive for very long (Like the banksy self-shredding painting, or the one I saw somewhere with an ax that chopped it’s leg. or something more performative/experiential.)
it would suck for the public to basically fund art, and not get to experience it, is all that idea was getting to. It would also suck for the artist if they weren’t allowed to take commissions or sell off high-value pieces.
edit: imagine if you will, libraries with reading nooks and paintings or whatever in them. or for there to be a sort of public museum. that puts things on display. And after a while, you could probably just sell some of the art (particularly if they get famous, lol. kinda like how venture capitalists shotgun start ups looking for the golden ticket.)
I would be absolutely against hindering artist income. There should definitely be the chance to sell tickets to performances and to sell any physical media.
And perhaps the art bank idea would benefit from increasing your monthly UBI if a lot of people are documented using your work. Like, a bottom tier starting artist should still get a massive boost to give them time to work, but maybe they’d still have a job on the side - but an artist doing highly valuable work should be getting a thriving wage from it, one way or another between tickets, sales, and a higher monthly income from the art fund.
Still just spit balling, just trying to imagine a world where culture becomes a top priority again.
It’s art whenever the creator intended it (the piece) to be art. That’s what we learned in college(I went to an “arts” school).
Better parameters will be required 🙂