By Theron Mohamed
Torri Hanna has juggled family and business obligations, replaced her damaged car, covered her credit cards and heating bills, saved up for a down payment, and purchased a new home. She couldn’t have done it without her guaranteed basic income.
Hanna is a fiber artist who owns a yarn store/art studio in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. She’s one of 75 artists in two neighborhoods of St. Paul and rural Otter Tail County to receive $500 a month for 18 months — a total of $9,000 — with no strings attached as part of a basic-income pilot.
The program, Guaranteed Income for Artists, was developed by Springboard for the Arts, an independent nonprofit. Participants were picked randomly from a pool of “artists, culture bearers, and creative workers” who received financial aid during the pandemic, when the virus forced businesses to close and gigs and exhibitions to be cancelled.
Governments and charities in dozens of countries have rolled out similar initiatives in recent years, as evidence mounts that direct-cash payments can help alleviate poverty, improve health, and generate other benefits.
Hanna’s business, Tangles to Treasures, only survived the pandemic with the support of federal loans and relief grants, she told Business Insider.
Her daughter also moved into Hanna’s one-bedroom apartment above her store when the virus shut down college dorms, and finished her degree remotely in 2021.
The avid weaver and embroiderer began taking Social Security payments at age 62 in 2022 but has struggled to make ends meet, with sales at her stores still below pandemic levels.
Hanna said the $500 in guaranteed monthly income (GMI) from the artist program, which she began receiving in March 2023, has acted as a safety net during a tough period.
The first few payments went toward covering her credit cards and raising her credit score. She used later ones to help save a down payment, which she and her daughter used to buy a house together two months ago.
Hanna said the certainty of the sum hitting her account each month meant she could better plan her household finances. Her Social Security payments and her daughter’s salary covered most of their expenses, meaning she could keep the $500 for unexpected costs such as car or home repairs.
‘Financial head above water’
It helped her navigate an eight-month period when she was providing round-the-clock care to her elderly mother after she had to leave her nursing home. Specifically, she felt comfortable temporarily closing her business and moving into a smaller space.
Hanna also had to replace her vehicle after a “run-in with a deer” last month. “Other challenges have been made less daunting knowing that I have a little extra cushion.”
Eventually, her mother secured a spot in a family-style care facility, which allowed Hanna to return home and reopen her business full-time. She’s now using the extra monthly cash to bolster her store’s inventory, cover her larger car loan, and keep up with mortgage payments.
“This money has provided me with a consistent source of income that has been invaluable to keeping my financial head above water,” she told BI.
“Buying a house would have been a struggle,” she continued. “I would be much deeper in credit-card debt. My credit score would be lower, and I probably would have bought a much older and less reliable used car than the 2013 SUV I recently purchased.”
“There have been times in the last few months when having that money made paying the winter utility bills possible,” Hanna noted.
“I don’t worry about skimping on our grocery purchases. Occasionally, we even treat ourselves to a meal out. Mostly, receiving the GMI support has provided stability when life throws me a curve.”
Smart spending
Early results from the pilot, which builds on a citywide program in St Paul, show that recipients spent 36% of their monthly payment on essential retail purchases and maintenance, repair, and professional services.
They deployed another 30% on food and groceries, 10% on housing and utilities, 7% on transport, and 4% on healthcare and medical expenses. That may help refute a common criticism of basic-income schemes: that participants squander the money on luxuries or vices.
Researchers found the program supported financial stability, long-term planning, resilience, and inclusion in the notoriously exclusive art world — paving the way for local artists to continue living in their neighborhoods and working within their communities.
For example, another Fergus Falls artist, Jess Torgerson, told BI the monthly cash allowed her to quit a full-time job with unpredictable hours and frequent overtime, and instead focus on her personal artwork and her career as a freelance administrator and curator.
“I realized that the $500 gave me that little extra cushion that I needed,” she said.
‘Food in my cupboards’
Torgerson said she’d created enough work over the past year or so to stage her own exhibition, curated five exhibitions, and helped organize a summit of more than 100 rural artists from around the country.
“I reserve the GMI for my groceries,” she said. “Pay for freelance work can sometimes be unpredictable. With the security of GMI, I know that I am guaranteed to have food in my cupboards.”
Similarly, Kandace Creel Falcón — a scholar, writer, and visual artist — told BI the regular lump sum gave them financial freedom and funded their work as a full-time artist.
Falcón, who lives with their wife and a bunch of animals including dogs, cats, goats, and chickens, said the money “helps us to tend to our herd.” They added that it felt like society saying “we’ve got your back” to rural artists.
The $500 a month has spared another artist from having to move out of their neighborhood after their rent was raised three times in the past year, per an impact report from Springboard, the pilot’s developer.
Meanwhile, another recipient, who’s a hip-hop artist, used the cash to buy back DJ equipment he’d sold to cover rent, per the report. He now spends the money to maintain the SUV he uses to transport his equipment, and to buy groceries.
“I’ve literally been using it to restart, or kick-start, my career from a bit of a dead zone,” he said.
The report’s big takeaway is that a guaranteed basic monthly income freed artists to take risks, back themselves by renting studio space or updating equipment, and have creative freedom over their work instead of answering to funders.
“We recognize the critical role artists play in our communities, yet they often navigate precarious conditions, straddling the line between gig workers and small business owners, making them susceptible to falling through the cracks of social safety net programs.” Ricardo Beaird, Springboard’s community development director, told BI.
Beaird added that the pilot was “about more than financial support — it’s about demonstrating the power of direct cash in pursuit of state and federal intervention and giving people the freedom to make the best decisions for themselves and their families.”
The artist program is poised to expand on September 16 with a fresh cohort of rural artists for the next five years. Administrators have also partnered with a social services organization to give participants access to counseling on finance, student debt, housing, and other needs.
