Wednesday, June 10 at 18:30: Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – From Pilot to Permanent
Please register for this event at the Action Network website and you can find more information:
https://www.ubilabnetwork.org/events/basic-income-for-the-arts-in-ireland-from-pilot-to-permanent
Hosted by UBI Lab Arts, UBI Lab Leeds, UBI Lab Network and Basic Income Ireland.
Please join us for the eighth and final event in our special series of discussions dedicated to reflecting on what we can learn from the Irish Basic Income for the Arts Pilot and its change to Permanent.
We will again be joined by artists Alisha Doody, Shane Finan, Lauren Conway and Tadhg Ó Cuirrín, who will give us personal insights from the perspective of recipients and members of the ‘control group’ who applied but did not receive the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA). We may be joined by other Irish artists from different fields of the Arts and a representative of the National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA). NCFA has advocated for a permanent programme which includes all artists. Basic Income Ireland will provide us with an update about their work, the current political context in Ireland, the evaluation of the pilot, and their views on the permanent BIA scheme.
Information about the permanent programme, together with reports evaluating the pilot and related information, are available from the Irish Department of Culture, Communication and Sports here.
You can watch the recordings from our previous seven sessions on Basic Income Ireland’s YouTube channel.
Thursday, June 4 at 19:00: UBI Now | A Beautiful Idea Whose Time Has Come
It’s time for a Universal, Unconditional Basic Income, from cradle to grave. Join the discussion and help make it happen.
Join us to learn more about UBI. How can it help us in these changing times, coping with climate change and the AI revolution. How can it be funded. What are the pros and cons. How can we take action to make it happen?
Introduction by Bobby Lambert of Basic Income Ireland.
Free online event.
Sign up at: Eventbrite
Some Past Events
Thursday, 28 May 2026 at 7:00 PM: Universal Unconditional Basic Income – Cradle to Grave
Come join the discussion about Universal, Unconditional Basic Income!
Bobby Lambert, Joint Coordinator of Basic Income Ireland, will introduce the idea of basic income and facilitate a discussion of its merits and of the issues typically raised about it.
All welcome!
Saturday, December 6, 2025 at 12:30: Annual Winter Meet-Up for Members and Supporters
Come join us for some informal chat about basic income and whatever else is on your mind.
Location: The Waterbank Gastro Bar (Grand Canal Hotel), Grand Canal Street Upper, Dublin 4, D04 X5X7
Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 6:30-8:00 PM
Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – What have We Learned after 38 months?
Online (Zoom). Register here: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org/events/basic-income-for-the-arts-in-ireland-what-have-we-learned-after-38-months
UBI Lab Arts, UBI Lab Leeds and UBI Lab Network, in association with Basic Income Ireland present:
Please join us for the seventh in our special series of discussions dedicated to reflecting on what we can learn from the Irish Basic Income for the Arts Pilot Scheme.
The Government of Ireland is running a Basic Income pilot that began in September 2022 and was supposed to end in August this year. It has now been extended for 6 months and will end in February 2026. 2000 artists and cultural workers receive an unconditional income of €325 weekly for a period of three and half years. This seventh session will be an opportunity to check-in with some of the artists involved in the pilot scheme and learn from them about how it is affecting them and their creative communities. What will be the impact of the end in February 2026? We will also discuss the announcement of the Irish government to start a new permanent scheme in September 2026 because of the success of the pilot. However, it is not clear what will be the design of the new permanent programme and how many Irish artists will benefit and for how long. You can watch the recordings from our previous six sessions here.
We will again be joined by artists Alisha Doody, Shane Finan, Lauren Conway and Tadhg Ó Cuirrín, who will give us personal insights from the perspective of recipients and members of the ‘control group’ who applied but do not receive the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA). We may be joined by other Irish artists from different fields of the Arts and the National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA). NCFA has advocated for a permanent programme which includes all artists. BI Ireland will provide us with an update about their work, the actual political context in Ireland, the evaluation and the future of the BIA scheme.
Following a brief refresher about Universal Basic Income, other pilot schemes, and the work of UBI Lab Arts, the wider UBI Lab Network, and Basic Income Ireland, we will open up a discussion with the artists. There will also be plenty of opportunity for questions from the audience.
The Irish Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media has released five reports assessing the pilot. You can find the info about the pilot and the evaluation reports here.
The session will take place on Zoom. Places are free but booking is required.
15 September 2025 – A Guaranteed Income for Everyone: Why it matters and how it can be achieved now. Trinity in the Community: Unit 18, Macken St, Dublin 2.
4 June 2025 – UBI Lab Arts, UBI Lab Leeds, UBI Lab Network and Basic Income Ireland present: Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – What have we learned after 32 months?
4 December 2024 – UBI Lab Arts, UBI Lab Leeds, UBI Lab Network and Basic Income Ireland present: Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – What have we learned after 26 months?
8 November 2023 – Annual conference and launch event for “A Model of Basic Income For Ireland” held at the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, Dublin.
17 June 2021 – Basic Income Ireland Labour Movement Seminar with Guy Standing, Tom McDonnell, and Michael Taft.
21 November 2020 Forum 2020 – How Best to Pilot UBI in Ireland as part of the Programme for Government
14 March 2020 Livestream meeting on ‘Trials in Ireland? – Introduction to Basic Income Experiments’.