Cultural, creative and collective recovery: exploring a creative worker income guarantee (CWIG)

Income guarantee schemes and interventions have been considered both as basic income and sector specific interventions. This article focuses on the ideas of a sector specific intervention and evaluates existing schemes to inform a possible pilot. Cognisant of the critiques of UBI and sector intervention schemes, and the post-covid context, this research examines the question of whether it would be possible and/or desirable to develop a location-specific intervention for a Creative Worker Income Guarantee scheme (CWIG). It navigates the possibilities for creative flourishing in post-pandemic, neoliberal times through an examination of income schemes, stakeholder engagement and interviews with creative workers in the City of Brighton and Hove. In conclusion, it offers recommendations for a pilot, while addressing many of the debates in the field.