Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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315. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if the pilot basic income scheme for artists will be eligible for comedians and comedy writers to apply for; if comedians and comedy writers are included in the definition of arts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4836/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Eligibility for the scheme will be underpinned by the definition of the arts set out in the Arts Act 2003, in which Arts is defined as:

“any creative or interpretative expression (whether traditional or contemporary) in whatever form, and includes, in particular, visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus and architecture, and includes any medium when used for those purposes”.

Arising out of the definition in the Arts act, eligible participants are considered to be artists or creative arts workers who are actively pursuing a career in creative or interpretive expression of an art form, in particular those identified under the Arts Act i.e. visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, film, circus or architecture. 

Whether a comedian or comedy writer would be eligible under the scheme will depend on their ability to demonstrate that they have a creative practice i.e. interpreting or expressing an art form.  

A creative arts worker is someone who’s work is in intrinsic to and makes a key contribution to the production or exhibition/display of artwork that is an original and creative work and whether it has, or is generally recognised as having, cultural or artistic merit. The input provided by workers in this category is intrinsically creative. This differentiates creative art workers from other supporting workers, whose input is better categorised as administrative, organisational, security, hospitality and so on.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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316. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way that well-being measurements will be included in the pilot basic income scheme for artists. [4838/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Basic Income for the Arts pilot project will be underpinned by a robust evaluation and research programme.  Well-being will be a critical aspect to the Basic Income for the Arts proposal, and I am particularly interested in the impact of a steady and regular basic income on the wellbeing of artists and creative arts workers.

This initiative is being developed by my Department as a research project, and the monitoring and evaluation of the pilot will be a key part of the implementation of the intervention over the next three years. My Department is currently drafting an evaluation plan, which will be finalised once the online consultation that is ending tonight at midnight has closed and the responses have been analysed.

The evaluation plan will seek to collect data to monitor the achievement of all of the scheme objectives, and the consideration of well-being is an important element of this research. Well-being is a multi-dimensional concept and it is intended that the monitoring and evaluation of the pilot will be aligned with the holistic approach to wellbeing dimensions set out in the Government’s Well-being Framework for Ireland, which looks at 11 different wellbeing dimensions, including, for example, Mental and Physical Health, Community, Social Connection and Cultural Participation, Civic Engagement and Cultural Expression, Income and Wealth, and a measure of Subjective Wellbeing.

I believe that this BIA will be a significant support for the wellbeing of those participating in the scheme and the collection of data on wellbeing indicators will provide the evidence base on this issue.