Background
The Basic Income for the Arts scheme was designed to support the Arts in Ireland. It was open to all artists and creative arts workers in Ireland and would result in paying 2,000 randomly selected artists Û325 a week for a three-year period.
Project announcement
Following much planning and public consultation, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media launched the Basic Income for the Arts scheme earlier this year.
Taoiseach Michel Martin said at the launch that the scheme had the potential to be one of the most significant interventions in the history of the State to support the creative community. Tnaiste Leo Varadkar said the scheme would rank alongside the smoking ban and the plastic bag levy in that it would be recognised overseas as an Irish policy intervention that would have wider applications in other jurisdictions.
System Requirements
The department held a public tendering process and MindaClient were successful in securing the contract to develop the application system for the scheme.
- Registration system with the facility to apply for funding
- Application system in English and Irish
- Facility to allow artists to upload supporting documentation
- Random selection of artists as only 2,000 artists would secure funding
- Communication system to inform applicants of the decision
- Email templates to allow communication in English and Irish
- Additional form for successful candidates to accept or decline the offers and to fill in bank details
- Design a survey that the successful applicants would complete during the programme
- Produce comprehensive reporting
Project and timeframe
The timeline was quite tight. The tender was officially awarded to us at the beginning of February 2022 and the launch to the public was planned for the beginning of April.
The application portal needed to be available in English and Irish.
We worked closely on the project plan and involved the department along in all the steps. We made a trial version available to the department project team in order to get timely feedback as we developed the final system.
Testing was very important, and the department put a large testing team in place to carry out comprehensive testing. Feedback from the testers was incorporated into the product by the team.
In the end, the scheme was open for applications from 12 April to 12 May 2022.
Instructional video
MindaClient put together a simple 6-minute video giving instructions to applicants on how to register on the portal and to fill out and submit their applications.
This was promoted on the department website and was available for viewing from the MindaClient portal.
Over 7,000 people viewed the video which was more than 75% of all applicants.
Go Live
The launch date was set for the 12th of April at 1:00 pm. ÒWe were anticipating large numbers of applicants because of all the advanced publicity, and we werenÕt disappointedÓ says Brian Kelly, CEO of MindaClient. With several hundred people registering in the first 10 minutes.
We had built a throttling service that could have restricted usage if too many people simultaneously accessed the server but thankfully this wasnÕt needed.
Altogether there were over 9,000 applicants. The Department worked out the eligible applications from the total and then 2,000 were selected through a random selection process.
A further 1,000 were selected as a Control group who would complete surveys over the three years
Streamlined Processing
Once the 2,000 artists were accepted the notification to both the successful and unsuccessful applicants was carried out through the system. The applicants next had to log into the portal and accept their offers and submit their additional details.
The department could see who had accepted the offers and could follow up with those who had not accepted as it came close to the deadline.
Over the 3 years of the scheme, the successful applicants had to complete a survey on a regular basis. This survey was designed in the MindaClient portal and could be undertaken in English or Irish depending on the applicants preference.
Great feedback
The scheme was very well received across the industry with various stakeholders including unions, the Arts Council and the Artists themselves praising the scheme.
Here is a quote from the above article that appeared in the Irish Times on 20th September
Some other applications are “very taxing and very time consuming”.
By comparison, the application process for the BIA (Basic Income for the Arts) programme took about 15 minutes and was a “piece of cake”
Minister for the Arts, Catherine Martin, on the day that successful applicants were informed, said
“I am delighted that the first group of successful applicants is being announced today. This is a landmark day, not just for those receiving grants, but also for Ireland, as it is the day that the state formally recognises the financial instability faced by many working in the arts and places a value on the time spent developing a creative practice and producing art.”
Summary
After successfully winning the tender MindaClient delivered the project on time and on budget. As can be seen from the public feedback the scheme was seen as a great success.
