Pay & Conditions Survey Results
Performing Arts Forum and First Music Contact release their second joint Pay and Conditions survey in the performing arts and music sectors in Ireland. Based on the findings both organisations now call on the Government to Increase funding to the Arts Council and Culture Ireland to continue to support the domestic development and international growth of Irish creative careers.
This report points to a wider set of problems that Basic Income alone cannot fix, so ahead of Budget 2027, Performing Arts Forum and First Music Contact are making the following asks of Government.
Increase funding to the Arts Council and Culture Ireland to continue to support the domestic development and international growth of Irish creative careers.
Increase funding to strategic infrastructure organisations in the sector to continue to build a roadmap for all careers in the performing arts sector.
Make a plan to significantly broaden Basic Income for Artists to increase the number of people in receipt of the support. Create a roadmap to make BIA permanent and for ALL who qualify by 2035.
At the end of 2025, Performing Arts Forum and First Music Contact jointly surveyed artists, arts workers, festivals, production companies and arts centres, and venues across Ireland to build an evidence base on pay and conditions in the sector.
The results give an extensive, ground-level view of the conditions facing artists and arts workers in both performing arts and music sectors today. A number of stark realities and findings are listed below that further point to the precarity and low funding in creative careers, especially stark when viewed against other workers in the state . Not only do the results give us an insight into why many creatives are leaving the sector, it gives a staggering view into the day to day challenges in lives of the artists and arts sector workers in our country.