The Media Arts Network of Ontario (MANO), supported by the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA), is excited to host the public launch of an important new report, Artists on Basic Income: Beyond Precarious Livelihoods.

The launch event will take place on Zoom on Thursday, January 23 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (ET)

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About the report
Artists on Basic Income: Beyond Precarious Livelihoods is based on an artist-led commission organized in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission heard testimonies from 20 artists across Canada during a two-day online event, held in 2021, whose lived experiences are summarized in the report.

Centring artists’ voices, Artists on Basic Income addresses frustrations with the gap between the cultural sector’s social and economic significance and the strained living and working conditions of artists. It explores calls to recognize artists as workers, their experiences with income insecurity and lack of social protections, the connection between precarity and mental health, and the growing housing and studio space crises.

At its core, the report focuses on how artist-testifiers understand and envision basic income and its potential to transform their livelihoods, practices, sectors, and society as a whole. It also outlines practical considerations for implementing a basic income program, drawing lessons from testifiers’ experience of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). The report concludes with key policy recommendations that will be of vital interest to policymakers, arts service organizations, and artists themselves.