Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

207. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the list of recipients of, or events funded under, the live performance support scheme, phase 2, the live performance support scheme, phase 3, and the live performance restart grant scheme will be published. [32130/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

These grant schemes are still live with grants at different stages of payment.  Once all of the payments have been made and the final figures for the allocations are available I will publish a list of grantees on my Department's website.  

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

208. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the total underspend from the €50 million in funding announced to support the live performance sector, broken down by the intended use when first announced and the plans for the remaining unspent allocation. [32131/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Following Budget 2022, I was pleased to announce details of another €50m suite of measures to support the live performance sector in 2022.  The funding facilitated the following schemes:

- The Live Performance Supports Scheme - LPSS 3, to support events which were due to be staged in December 2021 and January 2022 and were curtailed, cancelled or rescheduled due to the restrictions on audience capacity.  Grants of over €9.5m have been offered under LPSS 3.  I had allocated up to €15m for this scheme.

- Grants of €2.9m have also been offered under the LPSS Strand II, which supported pantomimes and seasonal musical theatre impacted by the Covid restrictions which applied in December and January.  I had allocated up to €5m for this scheme.

- The Live Performance Restart Grant Scheme (LPRGS) launched in March. This scheme is to support the live entertainment sector by providing business re-start grants to de-risk the planning of events across spring and summer of 2022 and assist with the costs of reopening. Grants of €14.7m have been offered under LPRGS to date.  I had allocated up to €15m for this scheme. 

- My Department provided €1m to support the St Patrick’s Festival.

- Under MEBAS 2022 €2.8m has been allocated as a targeted support for self-employed performers and sole traders operating solely in the live entertainment sector.  I had allocated up to €4m for this scheme.

- The Local Live Public Performance Scheme (LLPPS) Phase 3 provided funding of €5m to Local Authorities for local live events. These events will continue to run until the end of June this year.  Given the success of that scheme I have recently allocated a further €5m to the local authorities to provide for live events until Halloween. 

- Grants of €1.7m have been provided under the 2022 for the Commercial Entertainment Capital Grant Scheme (CECGS). Grants assisted with the capital costs associated with re-opening after closures due to the pandemic.  I had allocated €5m to this scheme.

These grants awarded brings the funding allocated to date to almost €41m. None of the live performance schemes have been oversubscribed and there has been sufficient funding available to provide grants to all eligible applicants.

This funding I believe has been essential to help underpin the recovery of the sector post pandemic.  It has been great to see the hundreds of events and gigs happening across the country and I am happy artists, crews, event producers and promoters are back to doing what they do best. 

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

209. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of unsuccessful and successful applicants, respectively, for the live performance restart grant scheme. [32132/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

186 grants have been offered to date under the Live Performance Restart Grant Scheme with grants of €14.7m offered.  20 applicants were unsuccessful.  A number of cases are still under consideration at present and theses figures may therefore change slightly. 

This grant scheme is still live with grants at different stages of payment.  Once all of the payments have been made and the final figures for the allocations are available, I will publish a list of grantees on my Department's website.  

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

210. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the total number of applicants for basic income under the arts pilot scheme; and the breakdown of the number of applicants based on art form, gender and county or city. [32133/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Demand for the basic income for the arts pilot research scheme has been very strong with just over 9,000 applications received by the closing date of May 12^th. 

I am very encouraged by the level of interest from artists and creative arts workers interested in participating in the pilot scheme.  Assessment of the applications has begun and this process will take at least 6-8 weeks given the high volume of applications.  Once assessed for eligibility, all eligible applicants will be entered into an anonymised random sampling process to choose the 2,000 scheme participants.

The pilot scheme is a three year research programme to evaluate the impact of a basic income style payment on the arts sector.  The pilot will also have a control group of up to 1,000 applicants to provide for comparative analysis between the treatment and control group.  A data baselining survey of all participants in both the Treatment and Control Groups will be conducted prior to payments starting to provide the starting point/baseline for the research.

Some specific data on the applications received includes:

- Gender: 48% of applicants were female and 48% were Male. This is 50:50 when other/prefer not to say options are excluded. The CSO’s 2020 Population Projections have a ratio of 49.8% female and 50.2% male. The applicant cohort is as-expected and aligned with the general population.

- Geographical Location: Applications have been received from every county. 37.1% of the applications overall came from Dublin. 62% of all applicants identified as Urban dwellers and 38% as Rural. Table One provides a full breakdown by county.

- Art Form:Visual Arts and Music account for 63.9% of all applications, Table Two provides a breakdown.

I am very pleased with the huge level of enthusiasm for the basic income for the arts pilot scheme and am delighted that over 9,000 artists and creative arts workers were willing to participate in this innovative research project. This heralds a new approach to the way the State funds and recognises her artists and I look forward to seeing the data and findings of the research during the pilot.