From September, artists in Ireland will be permitted one year on unemployment benefit without having to look for work, to allow for time to pursue their practice, rehearse, or develop a portfolio. Keep in mind that the country’s equivalent of jobseeker’s allowance is worth £168.50 per week even before rent payments are added (in the UK it’s £73.10) meaning that even one year provides valuable security. That time, quite simply, will take the heat off.

The scheme was announced by the minister for employment affairs and social protection, Regina Doherty, who stated: “In Ireland, we hold a very special place for the arts and I hope that through this initiative we can create some breathing space for creative people to flourish.”

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If only we could do something similar here. Well, we used to, with the old-school enterprise allowance. Countless musicians, actors, artists and dancers benefited from this scheme, as they were able to start a new business, while being entitled to the equivalent of jobseeker’s allowance, without having to seek other work for one year. That compares to the current situation where under the terminal basket-case known as universal credit, claimants – including artists – must spend 35 hours per week “work-seeking”, rather than “art-making”. There is a massive drawback to treating art as any other job. “Cultural industries” (and once again with feeling, all artists hate that phrase) generate plenty of income for the nation, while also encouraging tourism. But not all artistic output can be sold, nor does everything arty generate income for its owner and maker – especially more challenging work, such as performance or conceptual art. But it is undeniable that tourists come to Glasgow, for example, to enjoy our famous art scene. Art and culture contributed £29.5bn to the UK economy in 2017. And beyond the monetary contribution of art, we also make life better (hopefully).

So why compel artists to undergo time-consuming and pointless jobseeking, when we could be making art, composing, rehearsing etc? And time is mostly what we need, since creativity takes time. It is vital to recall the financial cost of making art, which can be astonishing. In Kind, a research project focusing on Glasgow International 2018, concluded that GI generated roughly £1.5m-worth of extra business for the city. And guess how much artists working for nothing contributed to the festival? Around £1.5m. And that’s not all, artists actually pay to create work, in the form of studio rent, hugely expensive materials, travel and application fees. The Scottish Artist Union found that artists were lucky to make £5k a year (few of us earn that much).

It is frequently assumed that we are not worthy of being paid anything at all, even by reputable galleries and curators, claiming we benefit from “exposure”. We used to be able to sign on, and while dole hardly provided enough to buy diamonds suitable for fashioning into costly skulls, we could at least afford essentials such as food.

Between 1991 and 2000, there was a project called Fuse, which is still mentioned fondly by artists, including numerous Turner winners and nominees up here in Glasgow. Its manager and instigator, Patricia Fleming, spent a great deal of time patiently explaining to the Department of Social Security exactly what sort of work artists could do while maintaining their practice in order to not just continue, but to develop and enhance their careers. It worked: Turner winners Douglas Gordon and Martin Boyce came through her doors. As Fleming says: “I re-educated employment services in what an artist was; instead of an employment adviser looking blankly, you could sign on with ‘artist’ as your job.” With the end of such schemes it should be no surprise that the creative industries are now packed with people from privileged backgrounds. Where will the next generation of working-class artists come from?

So please, permit us artists the pittance of claiming social security, if we need to. Leave us to imagine and create the art, dance and music you all enjoy.

• Penny Anderson is a writer and artist