The scheme was announced on Friday by Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan and Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty.

Under this new scheme, artists can receive Jobseekers' Allowance and focus on their creative work for a year, without having to take part in non-artistic job seeker activities.

The scheme has already been running on a pilot basis for writers and visual artists and will be extended to other self-employed artists from September.

According to RTE, more than 100 visual artists and writers availed of the pilot scheme.

Minister Madigan said artists, performers and stage designers deserve full support, particularly given the significant income challenges they can face.

SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION

This is important news for creators who still need financial help as they make their art.

Due to the nature of their work, artists - especially emerging artists - quite often don't get the recognition or appreciation that they deserve in society. We might listen to our favourite artists on Spotify or go to their gig once in a blue moon, but most of the time, we don't give a second though to their day-to-day upkeep.

For your average punter - that might be fine, but for a Government which seeks to have an enriched arts sector, more needs to be done to nurture talent.

This goes beyond matters of taste and enjoyment - it also makes economic sense to invest in emerging artists. Without these artists, promoter and bookers will have less gigs to put on; ticket sellers will have less to sell; venues will suffer - and that's just a very small aspect of the music industry.

People might turn their noses up at this idea because it's sometimes difficult to quantify just how much the arts brings in to benefit the economy. And yet, the much-cited Let's Celebrate document, published in 2017, showed comprehensively that the music industry has a massive impact on the Irish economy.

"HUGE" FOR ARTISTS

For those who are confused about why a scheme needed to be set up specifically for artists, Limerick singer-songwriter does a good job of breaking down why the nature of artistic work means that creators often fall between different cracks when it comes to support. She also shares a message saying personally why this new scheme is "huge" for her and artists like her. You can read her full post below:

Hi pals, there's a new social welfare scheme being set up to support artists between projects. Artists' dole kinda thing, for when the work dries up or you lose your voice or your paintin' hand is broken.

I'm seeing a lot of cynicism around it, and I can understand it, because of course a lot of people assume that everyone on social welfare is lazy and a sponge on the system; and on top of that there's this unfounded belief that artists are also lazy and have never done a day's hard graft.

Totally reasonable. It's an assumption based in zero lived experience, but sure look - what kind of country would we be without unfounded prejudices against marginalised people just trying to get by?

Anyway, I was asked on Twitter to explain why artists need this new scheme because we can already draw dole.

I'm the farthest thing from an expert in all this, so feel free to correct me, but from what I know the options at present are unemployment benefit or job seekers benefit; artists are neither.

UB requires "x" amount of stamps from previous PAYE employment, and job seekers demands that you be currently looking for work to be eligible - artists are constantly working but not always earning.
As part of the current JSB system you need to submit regular proof that you are seeking gainful employment, and the Irish social welfare services are obligated to send you to training groups and Fás courses if you can't "get a job".

Because much of our work is on a project-to-project basis, it means that what in arsey terms is called your "process" is essentially on-going unpaid work that ideally leads to gainful employment (a gig, a tour, a sellable record). There's also a ton of community outreach work and y'know, things like "Culture Night" that get you "great exposure" that is unpaid or grossly under-paid that artists engage in, that really we LOVE to do, but just isn't financially feasible.

With this new support in place, for me it means I can afford to get involved more with those kinds of projects. It means I can take time off of touring which is my main source of income and actually develop my skills as a musician. It's huge. If I'm to go on JSB as it currently is, I'll need to be using that time to applying for jobs outside of music.

Now they just need to provide equally exciting adequate supports for our nurses, engineers, scientists, teachers, carers, people with disabilities...