Iceland's Ministry of Education, Science and Culture provides funding for 'artists salaries'. Artists’ salaries are paid at the same scale as Lecturers Grade II at the University of Iceland. Some more info from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture: Reports and opinions 26, January 2002 is below.
Artists’ salaries
Under the current Artists’ Salaries Act (no. 35/1991 with later amendments),
artists’ salaries are allocated each year from four separate funds: the Writers’
Fund, the Visual Artists’ Fund, the Composers’ Fund and the Arts Fund. The
first three are specialised funds with their own allocation committees,
whereas the Arts Fund is a general fund serving all the arts. In addition to
artists’ salaries, the funds are authorised to provide study and travel grants.
The funds are supervised by a three-member Artists’ Salary Committee,
which also makes allocations from the Arts Fund. The Minister of Culture
appoints the committee for three-year terms on the basis of nominations
from the Federation of Icelandic Artists and the Icelandic Academy for the
Arts. One member is appointed without nomination.
The purpose of artists’ salaries is to stimulate artistic creativity in Iceland
and to make it possible for those artists receiving the salaries to devote
themselves entirely to their respective craft.
Artists’ salaries paid annually amount to 1,200 monthly wages. Artists’
salaries are paid according to the same scale as Grade II Assistant Professors
at the University of Iceland at any given time. Artists receiving salaries from
the state are not to be engaged in other full-time work, and are expected to
submit a report on their work. Artists’ salaries are divided amongst the following funds:
- The Writers’ Salary Fund
- The Visual Artists’ Salary Fund
- The Composers’ Salary Fund
- The Arts Fund