Talking to Social Welfare – Common Problems for Artists

Generally speaking, artists often find it difficult to deal with DSP and often call about problems with a social welfare officer not understanding their work or asking them to take work in other areas outside of the arts. These issues are often down to a miscommunication between the individual artist and the individual social protection officer. While we cannot advise on personal situations, we have noted some language that can be avoided or encouraged, to avoid misunderstandings. 

The way we describe working as an artist may clash with the main point that Jobseekers Schemes require that an individual is “available for work” and “actively seeking work”:

• Evidence of applying for exhibitions or funding or any art related opportunities is evidence of you actively seeking work. You can show emails, applications etc to demonstrate that you have been seeking work in your field. This is the same as someone else showing job applications or interviews. 
• Often an artist may say they are working towards an exhibition or working in their studio, they may even say they can’t look for work because of this, which a DSP officer may interpret as not being available for work and not seeking work. An artist is working while in the studio and the work done there leads to income generating opportunities. If an artist instead says they are actively working towards an exhibition that is an opportunity to generate income and will lead to more work. That they are applying for opportunities and funding while working in the studio. Also making it clear that if another income generating opportunity (in the arts or related to their practice) was to arise, they are in a position to take it.
• If you are only willing to work as an artist and see this as your career, describe yourself as a professional artist. Be assertive that this is your profession, while also understanding that the officer may not be clear on what that entails, explain it to them. If you are asked to take interviews offered to you by DSP, it’s best not to immediately close yourself off to the possibility – if you instead say you are happy to consider interviews for work related to your profession as an artist, this shows you are available and active. 

Again, VAI is not qualified to give advice on what social welfare scheme is best for an individual or how their payments will be affected by any change in circumstance. An individual’s entitlements may be influenced by a number of factors and they should refer to Citizens Information for advice.