The Irish government has started paying 2,000 artists, musicians, writers, and performers a weekly salary of €325 (£280).
The Irish government first revealed its plans for the Basic Income for the Arts program in January.
The income plan will cost the minister of culture and the arts roughly €25 million (£22 million).
The 2,000 recipients of the money were chosen at random and anonymously from among more than 9,000 applicants for the scheme.
The majority of persons who will receive the payout for three years are musicians and artists.
The Irish Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports, and Media, Catherine Martin, convened a task force that made the initial recommendation for the Basic Income Scheme for persons in the arts.
The group was established to make recommendations for how the arts may recover from the pandemic’s “extraordinary harm.”
Arts and entertainment venues in the Republic of Ireland were forced to close for extended periods due to Covid-19 limitations, the same as in Northern Ireland.
The payment is not means tested thus the 2,000 people selected may still be eligible for social welfare payments and will still be able to earn other money through their work.
However, they will be required to participate in a study that gathers information regarding the effects of the payout.
The 2,000 recipients of the money have been broken down by Irish county by the Irish government.
Dublin has the most awardees (764), followed by Cork (212), and Galway (148).
The payouts will go to more than 700 visual artists, 584 musicians, 204 film professionals, and 184 writers.
Along with 32 dancers and choreographers, 13 circus performers, and 10 architects, some 170 actors and other theater professionals were also chosen.
More than 50 grantees are employed as Irish-speaking workers.
Less than one in four of those who applied will receive the income due to the high demand for the program.
