Guaranteed Income Pilot for Artists | St. Paul, MN
Launched June 2021.
The Springboard Guaranteed Income for Artists pilot targets artists in Saint Paul and Otter Tail County, Minnesota. Funded with the support of the McKnight Foundation and the Bush Foundation, it is one of the first guaranteed income pilots in the nation to focus on the creative workforce.
The pilot has had three phases. The first phase of the GI pilot targeted 25 artists living in zip codes associated with the Rondo and Frogtown neighborhoods of Saint Paul. The artists were randomly selected from Springboard's Emergency Relief Fund applicants. Artists in the pilot were set to receive $500 per month for 18 months.
In December of 2022, Springboard expanded this pilot to an additional 18 months for the original recipients as long as they still maintained residence in Saint Paul. In March of 2023, they randomly selected additional cohorts in Saint Paul and Otter Tail County, where Springboard’s rural office is housed, bringing the total number of recipients to 75. The new cohorts of artists would receive $500 per month for 18 months. This marked the second phase of the GI pilot.
In March of 2025, Springboard launched the third phase of this work, extending the GI to five years for all cohorts and selecting an additional 25 artists in Otter Tail County who would receive $500 per month for five years.