1. What is the Basic Income for the Arts scheme?
The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) scheme will award 2,000 professional artists in Ireland with a weekly payment of €325 for a period of 3 years, starting in late 2026. The scheme opens for applications on April 15th at 1pm, and closes on May 12th at 5pm.
2. Who can apply?
All professional practicing artists based in the republic of Ireland, who can demonstrate a practice based primarily in Ireland. All applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria in the Guidelines for Applications.
3.How are recipients chosen?
Anonymised random sampling. This is the fairest method to achieve a proportional spread of applicants across artforms, locations, career stages, and all other factors. It means the more ISACS members apply, the more ISACS members will be selected. It prevents gatekeeping by assessing on artistic merit, or economic need.
4. How does eligibility work?
You must provide 3 pieces of proof for eligibility fromthe eligibility criteria in the Guidelines for Applications. 2 of them must be from Irish organisations, funders, etc. 1 of these can be an (existing) ISACS Certificate of Professional Membership.
5. Can I have an ISACS Certificate of Professional Membership? Is there a deadline?
We have closed applications for Certificates of Professional Membership, as there is insufficient time to process them before the BIA deadline on May 12th. No further applications will be accepted.
6. I applied for a Certificate of Professional Membership within the past few days, but have not received it – can I still get it?
If you applied after May 4th (our published deadline) we can’t guarantee we’ll have enough time to process your application for the BIA deadline on May 12th. If we manage to process it in time, we will send it on, but we are dealing with a huge volume of requests.
7. I’m not an ISACS member. Can I get an ISACS Certificate of Professional Membership?
Applications for ISACS Certificates of Professional Membership are now closed.
8. I’m not a Circus, Street Arts or Spectacle artist. Can I get a Certificate of Professional Membership if I join ISACS?
Applications for ISACS Certificates of Professional Membership are now closed. If you have recently joined and applied for a certificate, please bear in mind that ISACS is a network of Circus, Street Arts, and Spectacle artists, and we can only verify professionals working in this space. You must have a close affiliation with these artforms in order to qualify. If you do not, you should seek membership from another more relevant organisation in the list of certifying organisations in the Guidelines for Applications.
9. Do I need an ISACS Certificate of Professional Membership to apply to the BIA?
No. You need to submit any 3 proofs of your choice from the Guidelines for Applications, prioritising ones that are higher up the list. As the membership proof is relatively low on this list, you may very well have 3 other proofs you might prefer to submit instead (for example, if you’ve received 3 Arts Council Bursary/Project Awards in the last 3 years) .
10. Do I have to submit one piece of proof from each category (Income, Active Practice, and Membership)?
No. You can submit any 3 pieces of proof. You do not need to worry about the categories.
11. Does it matter which eligibility proofs I submit?
You can submit any 3 proofs to achieve eligibility, but the Guidelines for Applications says to gather proofs “in the order listed below”. A submitted proof will not necessarily be accepted as valid, and items higher on the list may have a stronger chance of being accepted than items lower on the list. For example, proof of an Arts Council Project Award might have a 100% chance of being accepted (this is the first item on the list), whereas proof of buying an expensive piece of equipment for your practice (this is the last item on the list) might have a lower chance. Therefore it would be wise to prioritise proofs that are higher on the published list over proofs that are lower down.
12. Can I change/update my proofs after I’ve submitted them?
No. The BIA application portal does not allow any changes to your application after it’s been submitted.
13. Can I submit invoices as proof?
No. One of the acceptable eligibility proofs is “Contract(s) for service related to your creative work (from the last 3 years)”, but a contract is not the same as an invoice. If you are submitting a contract as a proof, make sure it is signed by all parties. Unsigned contracts will not be accepted as proof.
14. What if I work with/for an organisation that is an ISACS member?
For (generally) small organisations whose teams are well-known to the ISACS team, apply for your cert. We can issue 2 certs per Small Organisation. Professional freelancers should have their own ISACS membership. For larger organisations, individual Professional memberships for team members may be the best/quickest/simplest option.
15. What if I live in the North?
Unfortunately, applicants must be based in the Republic of Ireland at the time of application, and also remain primarily based in the Republic for the duration of the scheme. Their practice must also be largely based in Ireland.
16. What exactly does the Department mean by “the last three years”? Is evidence from 2023 eligible?
One of our members kindly shared a response to this question from the BIA Team:
“In this context, the reference to “the last three years” is intended to include the full calendar year of 2023 and is not limited to a specific date such as May 2023. Applicants can submit eligible evidence from 2023 onwards, in line with the guidelines”.
17. Does a circus or performance agency count for “Proof that you are currently represented by, for example, a professional gallery, promoter or agent for your practice / creative arts work”?
Good question. While there are various individuals and companies that act as agents for performers of circus , street arts, and spectacle, these are quite different to professional agents in other fields such as acting or publishing. In those sectors, getting an agent is a significant step in an artist’s career, as agents are extremely selective about what clients they take on, and an agent can have an enormous effect on an artist’s future. Many publishing companies, for example, will not even look at a book manuscript unless it’s come through an agent.
The department might be referring to this kind of agent, and might not consider a circus/performance agency in the same way. We can’t say for sure. For this reason, it would be better to avoid submitting proof of work with a circus agency as one of your proofs for BIA eligibility. We simply don’t know it would be accepted, and you would likely not get a chance to argue your case.
ISACS ran a BIA Info Clinic on Wednesday, April 8th, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.