The Visual Artists’ News Sheet is guaranteed the most affordable and cost effective platform for publicising art events, exhibitions, arts services, artists’ materials & equipment, notices of commissions & other opportunities for artists. We print and distribute 6000 copies per issue of this 40 page newspaper throughout Ireland six times a year, ensuring that your advertising is read as timely and relevant.

All advertising queries should be directed to:

Thomas Pool
News Provision
T: 01 672 9488
E: news@visualartists.ie

The deadline is fast approaching and if you have yet to reserve ad space please do so as soon as possible. We only have Inside Pages space left available.

As part of VAI’s push to become a more green organisation we now use biodegradable packaging for individual subscribers of the VAN.

Alongside the print advertising that we continue to offer in The Visual Artists’ News Sheet – VAI’s bi-monthly publication – we also offer digital banner adverts within VAI’s twice weekly eBulletin as well as promotional posts across VAI’s extensive social media platforms.

When placing an advertisement in the VAN, you can now maximise your audience with this new bundle (comprising an ad in the eBulletin, with the additional option of a targeted promotional post across VAI’s social media platforms) for an additional fee of €155.

We have recently simplified the process for our Facebook advertisements, and have optimised the pricing to produce over 10,000 views per post. If your target audience is smaller this can be adequately adjusted upon request.

As a result of this highly successful programme, we are excited to offer you a the VAN, eBulletin and Social Media Advertising Bundle, which comprises three strands:

1. Print Advertisement (The VAN) – A well respected and durational advertising option, best suited to the promotion of forthcoming or seasonal programmes, events and opportunities.
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Advertisers now have the option to promote different programmes or opportunities in print and online. These bundles are flexible with the needs of our advertisers in mind, to ensure that your ad is seen by the maximum amount of VAI readers and subscribers.

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• Visual Artists Ireland is a trusted space and respected information resource.
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• Recent VAI figures show that we directly engage with more than 80% of visual artists in Ireland.

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• VAN Readership = 5,600
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Additional Perks for VAI Member Organisations

• VAI Member Organisations can now enjoy a 10% discount on all advertisements placed in the VAN as well as in the eBulletin.

You can refer to our updated 2025 Advertising Rate Card for a list of competitive prices, as well as technical specifications for your advertisements.

Please do get in touch to discuss these options or to book an advertising slot across one or more of these platforms. Since demand is already high and space is limited, advertisements will be placed on a first-come-first-serve basis.

To reserve advertising space contact Thomas at news@visualartists.ie

From Temple Bar Gallery + Studios

18th March 2026

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (TBG+S) is pleased to announce Joanne Reid as the recipient of the Paul Robinson Studio Award 2026, proudly sponsored by leading law firm Arthur Cox LLP.

The Paul Robinson Studio Award supports an emerging artist of talent and promise to develop and focus their artistic practice during their Project Studio Membership at TBG+S. The award is created in the memory of Paul Robinson, a partner and much-loved member of the Arthur Cox team for over 20 years and TBG+S Board Member from October 2013 to November 2017. He is warmly remembered with great fondness and respect for his many contributions to the organisation, support of artists and his engaging interest in contemporary art.

Joanne Reid is the recipient of the Paul Robinson Studio Award in 2026. Working primarily in sculpture, her work often begins as an intuitive response to materials, objects and spaces that form our built environment. Reid’s material vocabulary draws primarily from the urban environment and construction sites, often using steel, plywood, timber, plaster, and concrete. Reid is interested in our desire to reproduce the natural world and the history of ornament in architecture and is influenced by art historical compositions, such as the still life.

Select exhibitions include: Residues of the Garden of Eden, The Complex, Dublin (2025); Thresholds to the Unseen, Solstice Arts Centre, Meath (2024); Sample Set, Studio 1, Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (2023); Home Bodies, Glandwr, Dublin (2021); Dearly Beloved: ARTWORKS ,VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art, Carlow (2019); Futures, Series 3, Episode 2, RHA Gallery, Dublin (2018).

From Temple Bar Gallery + Studios

16th March 2026

Temple Bar Gallery + Studios (TBG+S) is pleased to announce the awarded artists from the open calls for Six Year Membership, Three Year Membership and Project Studios.

Six Year Membership Studios have been awarded to Jaki Irvine and Niamh O’Malley. Three Year Membership Studios have been awarded to Caoimhe Kilfeather, Diaa Lagan, Michelle Malone, and Aileen Murphy. Project Studios have been awarded to Colm Keady-Tabbal, Thaís Muniz, Joanne Reid, and Eoghan Ryan.

Six Year Membership Studios offer long-term tenure to exceptional visual artists living in Ireland for which an open call is made every six years. Three Year Membership Studios offer a long-term tenure to artists who have developed an established, professional practice. Project Studios offer a one-year tenure to artists who are developing exciting emerging practices and demonstrate talent and potential. An open call for Three Year Membership and Project Studios is made annually.

The artists were awarded studios by a selection panel including current TBG+S Studio members and established curators based in Ireland and internationally. The selected artists are representative of the exceptionally high-quality and rigorous contemporary art practices in Ireland today. Studios are subsidised with support from the Arts Council, with additional support for one Project Studio annually through the Paul Robinson Studio Award, sponsored by Arthur Cox LLP.

TBG+S received a large number of high-quality applications for Studio Membership and would like to extend our gratitude to all artists who took time to submit to the open call.

TBG+S looks forward to welcoming the incoming artists to the Studios and the community of artists.

2026 Studio Membership Artists

Jaki Irvine places music and sound at the core of her moving-image installations, often composing and performing soundtracks while collaborating in improvisation with musicians. These improvised exchanges introduce openness, responsiveness, and a live sensibility into her work, allowing video editing, rhythm and sounds to evolve intuitively, blurring boundaries between the known and unknowable, practice and performance.

Colm Keady-Tabbal is an artist based in Dublin and New York.

Caoimhe Kilfeather makes work across sculpture, photography, film, and installation. Her practice grows from hands-on studio experimentation and research into architecture, ritual, memory and landscape. She is especially interested in everyday, vernacular structures and how their materials and histories shape the way people feel towards and understand a place.

Diaa Lagan is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice weaves together mythology, history and contemporary realities to explore the complexities of human experience. Through metaphorical narratives and symbolic imagery, He reinterprets ancient myths and cultural archetypes to reflect contemporary socio-political conditions. Lagan’s work examines how language functions as both a visual system and a carrier of cultural knowledge across diasporic histories.

Michelle Malone practice is based on her experience growing up in a variety of social housing systems in inner-city Dublin, primarily Oliver Bond flats. Her multi-disciplinary installations comprise sculpture, image-making, oral histories, audio, and text. Her practice seeks to give material voice to working-class histories from the perspective of lived experience. It is her belief that it is much needed in the art industry to let marginalised people tell their own story.

Thaís Muniz practice explores the intersections of inherited and acquired identities, memory, transit, and inward love as a methodology of radical self care. She creates intimate and collective spaces through film, performance, workshops, sculpture, and print, responding to the geopolitics of place. Muniz’s work engages in the reimagining of realities by employing mechanisms of refusal, education, dreaming, and personal magic.

Aileen Murphy approaches painting and its history with care and a playfully disobedient spirit. Her large-scale paintings, drawings, and collages explore the body, humour, psychological states, and fantastical imagery. She layers motifs, forms, and techniques in ways that blur boundaries between figuration and abstraction.

Niamh O’Malley is works with moving image alongside sculptural materials including glass, wood, metal, and stone. Through objects and recorded fragments, she produces material and physical gestures that revive and reanimate a form, an architecture, or a moment. Her works gesture towards enabling or offering protection, conveying sensations of touch, and more – of grabbing, holding, or caressing surfaces, offering a moment of tether and precarious poise.

Working primarily in sculpture, Joanne Reid’s work often begins as an intuitive response to materials, objects and spaces that form our built environment. Reid’s material vocabulary draws primarily from the urban environment and construction sites, often using steel, plywood, timber, plaster, and concrete. Reid is interested in our desire to reproduce the natural world and the history of ornament in architecture and is influenced by art historical compositions, such as the still life.

Eoghan Ryan works across moving image, installation, performance, puppetry, and collage to explore how power circulates socially and through mediated culture. His process involves sustained periods of editing and documentation focused on specific people, sites, objects, or songs, developing fable-like reflections on the collective and the personal as institutions. These institutions range from states of being and nation-states to the cultivation of provisional culture, in art as in bacteria.

In the second instalment of our two-part special series on the 2026 Dublin International Film Festival, film critics Caileigh Ryan and Paul Dunne, as well as miniVAN Commissioning Editor Thomas Pool, review a selection of films, including two foreign-language films, that premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival 2026, exclusively for Visual Artists Ireland!

Check it out now by clicking here!

The miniVAN is the online magazine published by Visual Artists Ireland. With uniquely commissioned content, The miniVAN explores the visual arts with an accessible view of all aspects of careers and practice that make up our visual community.

VAN March/April 2026 issue foregrounds visual art projects, events, exhibitions, and screening programmes happening around the country and overseas. For the international section, John Graham considers the Gerhard Richter retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris; Cian Duggan discusses his recent exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City and the wider art scene in Vietnam; and Brenda Moore-McCann reports on an event in Rome with Na Cailleacha for St Brigid’s Day.

Among feature articles for this issue, Helena Tobin reflects on the evolution of South Tipperary Arts Centre over the last 30 years; Aengus Woods considers several recent photography exhibitions in Dublin; Emma Battlebury outlines ‘Desire Lines’, a screening programme organised by aemi; while member profiles explore the art practices of Charys Wilson, Mary St. Leger, and Marie Phelan.

This issue also includes timely coverage of recent exhibitions nationwide: ‘WAAG: An Archive’ at Mermaid Arts Centre in Wicklow; Oliver Jeffers at Naughton Gallery in Belfast; Elinor O’Donovan at Triskel Arts Centre and Sirius Arts Centre in Cork; ‘It’s Not Clear from Here’ at CCA Derry ~ Londonderry; Naomi Sex at VISUAL Carlow; and ‘Songs to the Siren’ at The Model in Sligo.

On The Cover

Na Cailleacha, The School of Hibernia (After Raphael), 2024 [detail], tableau staged in the Museum Building, Trinity College Dublin, 9 March 2024; photograph by Ros Kavanagh, courtesy of the artists and Trinity College Dublin.

FIRST PAGES 

6          Roundup. Exhibitions and events from the past two months.

8          News. The latest developments in the arts sector.

COLUMNS

9          Close-Knit. Cornelius Browne considers the handcrafted patterns that bind him to his ancestors.

            What Is A Creative Producer? Rachel Botha reports on a recent event at Mermaid Arts Centre.

10        Municipal Walker. Lian Bell discusses a monthly ritualised walk around Dublin undertaken as an act of civic care.

The Business of Art. VAI Advocacy OfficerBrian Kieltoutlines financial advice and resources for visualartists.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT  

11        Between My Finger and My Thumb. Joseph McBrinn interviews Cardiff-based Irish artist Claire Curneen.

MOVING IMAGE

12        Desire Lines. Emma Battlebury outlines a screening programme organised by aemi.

SOCIALLY ENGAGED PRACTICE

14        Lattices of Love. Sarah Browne describes a project by Workhouse Union exploring relational understandings of care.

ART COLLECTIVE

15        Waking The Land. The ÁIT Collective outline their collaborative ethos and recent activities.

PHOTOGRAPHY ROUNDUP

16        New Mythologies. Aengus Woods reflects on several recent photography exhibitions in Dublin. 

CRITIQUE

19        Oliver Jeffers, ‘Disasters and Interventions’, installation view. 

20        ‘WAAG: An Archive’ at Mermaid Arts Centre

21        Oliver Jeffers at Naughton Gallery

22        Elinor O’Donovan at Triskel and Sirius Art Centres

23        ‘It’s Not Clear from Here’ at CCA Derry~Londonderry

24        Naomi Sex at VISUAL

INTERNATIONAL

26        Post Mortem. John Graham considers the recent Gerhard Richter retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. 

28        Thinspace. Cian Duggan discusses his recent exhibition in Vietnam.

29        School of Hibernia. Brenda Moore-McCann reports on an event in Rome with Na Cailleacha for St Brigid’s Day.

ORGANISATION

28        STAC at 30. Helena Tobin reflects on the evolution of South Tipperary Arts Centre over the last 30 years.

EXHIBITION

30        Songs to the Siren. Phillina Sun reviews the current show at The Model in Sligo.

MEMBER

32        Spaces Between. Charys Wilson discusses developments in her art practice including some recent solo shows in Belfast.

33        The Eccentricities of Identity. Brian Curtin discusses the evolution of Mary St. Leger’s painting practice and career.

34        Transformative Encounters. Marie Phelan outlines some recent developments in her multidisciplinary art practice.

LAST PAGES

35        Opportunities. Grants, awards, open calls, and commissions.

36        VAI Lifelong Learning. Helpdesks, cafés, and webinars.

From La Biennale di Venezia

25th February 2026

The 61st International Art Exhibition In Minor Keys (9 May to 22 November 2026) will feature 111 invited participants – among them, individual artists, collaborative duos, collectives, and artist-led organisations – hail from many geographies and regions selected by Koyo Kouoh with particular attention to resonances, affinity, and and possible convergences between practices, even when far apart. In looking to artists working in Salvador, Dakar, San Juan, Beirut, Paris, or Nashville, for example, Koyo sought to envision how their ingenuity, breadth of material experimentation, and visionary ideas bear connections to other artists and movements in simultaneity. In this spirit, In Minor Keys expands upon Koyo’s relational geography of encounters with artists over her lifetime. 

For more information, click here.

In the first instalment of our two-part special series on the 2026 Dublin International Film Festival, miniVAN Commissioning Editor Thomas Pool reports on the opening night of the Dublin International Film Festival 2026 and reviews the world premiere of ‘Once Upon a Time in a Cinema’, exclusively for Visual Artists Ireland!

Stay tuned for Part II, with more in-depth coverage of this year’s festival, in the beginning of March.

Check it out now by clicking here!

The miniVAN is the online magazine published by Visual Artists Ireland. With uniquely commissioned content, The miniVAN explores the visual arts with an accessible view of all aspects of careers and practice that make up our visual community.

From Royal Hibernian Academy

Thursday February 12th 2026

The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts is delighted to announce that artists Eileen Leonard Sealy and Daniel Coleman have been awarded the Hennessy Craig Award 2026 and artists Manar Mervat Al Shouha and Conor O’Connell have been awarded the Homan Potterton Award, 2026. Both awards, the largest awards for painters in Ireland, were announced at a ceremony held at the RHA Gallery, on Thursday 12 February.

The Hennessy Craig/Potterton jury selected five artists, from both the 2024 and 2025 Annual Exhibitions, who were invited to submit two new works, currently showing at the RHA until 29 March.

Since 2002, the Hennessy Craig Award has recognised exceptional talent among painters under the age of thirty-five who have studied at a recognised art college on the island of Ireland and exhibited in the open submission section of the Academy’s Annual Exhibition. Introduced in 2024, the Homan Potterton Prize was established through a generous bequest from the late Homan Potterton, former Director of the National Gallery of Ireland and one of the country’s foremost art historians. The prize honours a painter under thirty-five whose work reflects the enduring traditions of figurative or landscape painting.

This year, the Hennessy Craig / Potterton jury has selected artists from both the 2024 and 2025 Annual Exhibitions. Each shortlisted artist has been invited to present two new works for this exhibition, with the final awards reflecting the artist’s overall practice.

2026 Shortlisted artists:
Maya Brezing · Mantas Poderys · Matthew Stickland · Liam Murray · Salvatore of Lucan · Owen de Forge · Manar Mervat Al Shouha · Eileen Leonard Sealy · Conor O’Connell · Daniel Coleman

The jurors would like to congratulate this group of artists on the exceptional quality of their work and for maintaining such uncompromising artistic integrity. In the contemporary art world, competing for awards is a strategy that extends beyond the pursuit of the award – it serves as a vital process for professional validation. It enables artists to engage in dialogue on why painting never loses its relevance. It transforms art practice from being a solitary pursuit into a dynamic, collective experience.

The standard was so high that the jury had great difficulty in selecting a single winner for each award and decided make joint awards for both categories.

The Hennessy Craig Award 2026, €20,000 – Bequest of the estate of Patrick Hennessy and Henry Robertson Craig. Awarded to: Eileen Leonard Sealy, Daniel Coleman, €10,000 each
The Homan Potterton Prize 2026, €20,000 – Bequest of the estate of Homan Potterton. Awarded to: Manar Mervat Al Shouha, Conor O’Connell, €10,000 each
These four artists, while different in their aesthetic and conceptual concerns, collectively demonstrate the enduring relevance of contemporary figurative painting. They each, in their unique way, push the boundaries of representation, inviting viewers to engage with questions about loss, identity, historic references and the human condition.

This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to experience – and for discerning collectors, to acquire – the finest work from Ireland’s most exciting new generation of painters.

For more information, click here.

From Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF)
Friday 13th of January 2026

AIDAN GILLEN AND REBECCA MILLER JOIN JUDGING PANEL FOR DUBLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL’S AVOLON WORLD CINEMA AWARD

·         Eight films shortlisted as 500 films enter in 2026 

·         Avolon Access initiative repeated for second year to encourage diverse attendance

Dublin | 10 February 2026: The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) has announced the judging panel and shortlist of films for the Avolon World Cinema Award category at the 2026 festival.

Launched last year to champion excellence in global filmmaking and widen access to world cinema, the Avolon World Cinema Award has already established itself as a vital platform for international storytelling. Following a strong inaugural year, won by the acclaimed Indian crime drama Santosh, the award returns in 2026 and has attracted 500 entries from a diverse range of global filmmakers.

The shortlist of 8 films includes entries from Kenya, Australia and Chile, and the films will be shown at the festival which runs from 19th February to 1st March 2026.

The judging panel for the award will include actor Aidan Gillen, well-known for his roles in Game of Thrones and Love/Hate. Actor and Director Rebecca Miller also joins the panel, following the success last year of her Apple TV documentary series on Martin Scorsese. They will be joined by Ciara Ruane, Chief People Officer, Avolon; Michael Doherty, Movie Editor of the RTE Guide, and Wendy Mitchell, Contributing Editor for Screen International.

As part of their collaboration, DIFF and Avolon will continue Avolon Access tickets initiative, aimed at increasing accessibility to the festival’s World Cinema programme. Avolon Access is designed to ensure that financial barriers do not prevent individuals or community groups from experiencing the vibrant and diverse stories showcased at DIFF 2026.Organisations interested in registering for the programme should visit https://www.diff.ie/avolonaccess.

Aidan Gillen commented: “I am honoured to serve on the judging panel for the 2026 Avolon World Cinema Award – a task I take very seriously but also with great excitement as a cinema lover in getting to see these films early. The standard is expectedly very high, so it won’t be a particularly easy task, but we’ll get to it!”

Ciara Ruane, Chief People Officer, Avolon commented: “Now in its second year, the Avolon World Cinema Award is attracting interest from a wide array of filmmakers. As a global business we are excited to be supporting talent from all over the world, but also to celebrate Dublin as a hub of excellence both for our sector and the creative arts. Through the Avolon Access ticket initiative we will continue to seek to ensure that a diverse audience gets the opportunity to see the amazing range of films that have been shortlisted.”

Gráinne Humphreys, Executive Director, Dublin Film Festival commented: “The Avolon World Cinema Award has very quickly become a vital part of DIFF’s international programme, and we are thrilled to see it return for a second year with such momentum. The breadth, ambition and emotional range of the shortlisted films speak to the power of cinema being made by filmmakers at a crucial moment in their careers – artists who are shaping the future of world cinema. With an expanded shortlist in 2026 and an exceptional judging panel, the award reflects DIFF’s commitment to championing global storytelling while ensuring audiences in Dublin can experience these films on the big screen. We are especially proud to continue the Avolon Access initiative, which aligns so closely with our belief that world cinema should be open, welcoming and accessible to all.”

Michael Doherty, Movie Editor of the RTE Guide commented: “I’m delighted to have been invited to be part of the jury for the Avolon World Cinema Award at this year’s Dublin International Film Festival. The shortlisted films for 2026 offer an array of diverse stories, covering the spectrum of international filmmaking from Chile to Australia, via Nigeria and Switzerland. Featuring an impressive mix of new voices and more experienced filmmakers, this year’s selection highlights the power of global storytelling, while providing DIFF audiences the welcome opportunity to experience an eclectic mix of remarkable screen dramas, each with its own singular perspective on the world”

The shortlisted films this year include Cannes Film Festival winning films The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo and Sound of Falling. Sound of Falling was also Academy Award Oscar© shortlisted. Ish premiered at BFI London Film Festival and won the Audience Award at Venice Critics’ Week, with producer Samm Haillay noted as a BIFA Breakthrough Producer winner. California Schemin’ marks actor James McAvoy’s directorial debut.

Image: Actor Aidan Gillen has joined the judging panel of the Dublin International Film Festival’s Avolon World Cinema Award. The award champions excellence in global filmmaking and widens audience access to world cinema. Pictured at Avolon’s HQ (L to R) are: Aidan Gillen; Michael Doherty, Movie Editor, RTE Guide; Ciara Ruane, Chief People Officer, Avolon; Gráinne Humphreys, Executive Director, DIFF.

From the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport
10th February, 2026

Government today approved the parameters of the new BIA Payment to 2,000 artists selected for the new BIA will begin before year end. Guidelines for the new BIA scheme will be published in April
The Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, today announced the successor scheme to the Basic Income for the Arts Pilot scheme.

Practicing artists based in the Republic of Ireland will be invited to apply for the scheme and 2,000 eligible artists will be selected to receive the payment of €325 per week. The payment will be for 3 years and will also feature a tapering-off period of 3 months at the end of the cycle.

The pilot was the first large scale Randomised Control Trial undertaken by the Irish Government and has provided a solid evidence base for the future policy direction of the scheme. Guidelines outlining details for application, eligibility criteria and proofs will be published in April 2026.

With a budget of €18.27m secured by the Minister in Budget 2026, the new BIA will operate in 3-year cycles with artists being eligible for every 3 out of 6 years. This means that, if selected in 2026 – 2029 for the payment, an artist won’t be eligible for the payment in the next cycle, but may reapply in the cycle following that. Those who were on the Pilot who meet the eligibility criteria for the new scheme may apply for the BIA in 2026.

Minister Patrick O’Donovan said:

“I am delighted to be announcing that the new BIA scheme has today been approved by Cabinet and will open for applications in May of this year. This is a major milestone for the arts in Ireland and how we support the arts. I am particularly pleased that the research my Department conducted provided Government with a clear evidence base upon which to make that decision. Ireland is a global leader in the area of artist supports because of the BIA.”

Peter Power, Steering Committee, the NCFA (National Campaign for the Arts) said:

“Basic Income for Artists is a landmark commitment by the government to invest in Ireland’s arts industries, highlighting this government’s commitment to contributing to stabilising the precarious working conditions faced by artists. Ireland can become a world leader through this unique scheme that ultimately benefits the whole of society through supporting our continued artistic excellence on the world stage.
The NCFA cannot ignore the importance of this scheme in addressing the broader challenges faced by artists, including housing affordability and the need for sustainable career paths within the arts sector.
The introduction of Basic Income for the Arts underscores the premise that Government investment in the arts yields myriad positive benefits to society from economic, health, mental wellbeing, education, societal cohesion, diversity, and inclusion, to creativity, critical thinking, innovation, entrepreneurship, global reputation and more. We look forward to its implementation and expansion to include all eligible artists and arts workers in the coming years.”

Research from the pilot scheme collected clear evidence of the consistent, positive impact that the payment has across almost all indicators. Artists in receipt of the support are typically able to:

devote more time to their art;
produce more pieces of work;
experience a boost to their wellbeing through greater life satisfaction
experience reduced anxiety, and;
are protected from the precariousness of incomes in the sector to a greater degree than those who are not receiving the support.
An external cost-benefit analysis found that for every €1 invested in the pilot, society received €1.39 in return.

The Minister added:

“The BIA pilot research has consistently demonstrated both the positive impact it has had on those in receipt of it and how difficult it is to work as an artist in Ireland given the income precarity prevalent in the sector. The successor scheme will help to sustain the careers of those artists who receive it and retain their talent in the arts sector. I encourage artists from all over the country to apply to ensure that those selected for the scheme represent the broadest range of artists practicing in Ireland today.

Guidelines outlining the detail of criteria and parameters for the scheme are currently being finalised and will be published in April. Following that, the scheme will open for applications in May and these will be assessed over the summer, with payment to selected artists beginning before the end of 2026.

Reports on the data collected as part of the Pilot are available here: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-culture-communications-and-sport/publications/basic-income-for-the-arts-pilot-scheme-reports/

For more information, click here.