Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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677. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to provide a breakdown by each county of the number of successful and unsuccessful eligible applicants for the basic income for the arts by pilot scheme, a breakdown by county of the numbers selected for the control group and the methods used by her Department to promote and publicise the scheme throughout the entire country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16954/23]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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My Department ran an extensive media campaign ahead of the deadline for applications for the Basic Income for the Arts Pilot Scheme. The scheme was advertised targeting local media across the country and the media package used was selected on this broad-reach basis. The launch was also covered on the Six One News on RTÉ 1 and included national coverage by newspapers and radio.

My Department also ran a strong social media campaign leading up to the launch of the scheme and during its application window. The launch was also shared broadly on social media by The Arts Council and Irish arts resource organisations and interested parties including Visual Artists Ireland, First Music Contact, Musicians Union of Ireland, The Journal of Music etc. and was picked up and shared internationally (e.g. BBC News) ahead of opening for applications. The Department’s own March/April 2022 Basic Income for the Arts social media posts were viewed 82,535 times

There was also extensive stakeholder and public engagement prior to the launch of the scheme: A stakeholder forum, held on 15 December 2021, hosted discussions with over 150 participants from 50 artists and arts workers resource and representative bodies to feed into the policy development. In addition, in January 2022, the Department opened an online public consultation, to which anyone could contribute. This allowed the general public, artists and those working in the arts and culture sector the opportunity to contribute on key issues. Over 1,200 members of the public and the sector who were interested made submissions to the public consultation, reflecting the high level of interest in the scheme in the months ahead of its launch.

The following table provides details of the geographic location of all applicants and those who were selected and those who were unsuccessful.

The following table shows the geographic location of the Control Group Members.