SU Blog: Work experience and Internships
Last year the Students’ Union began campaigning to end the mass exploitation of unpaid interns as part of our work with the Arts Group (www.artsgroup.org.uk) – but months down the line and the Government has yet to do anything to change the situation despite consistent pressure on multiple fronts.
Everyone seems to agree that work experience is a valuable thing, but our concern is the level to which the use of unpaid workers (which is definitely illegal) has been creeping up during the recession – with unpaid internships up by 33 per cent and the availability of paid work in the creative sector down by 19 per cent in the same period (according to Creative Careers research).
What this adds up to is more opportunities for those people whose parents can afford to subsidise their lifestyle and less for those keen to make a living from their creativity that don’t have the same economic stablility.
As University of the Arts London students we know how much joy and reward can be reaped from our creative skills, but often our willingness to be used by companies for unpaid work perpetrates a model which degrades our skills and hard labour into nothing more than a glorified hobby.
Over-worked
Already the attitude to interns and emerging graduates betrays a complete lack of respect for the abilities and practice that develop over years of study.
Students I speak to across the University are already familiar with scenarios of pretty much begging for placements where they’ll be lucky to get travel expenses, yet expected to work just as hard as a freelancer, for the same hours – even though this clearly violates existing National Minimum Wage legislation.
The Creative Careers survey reveals some shocking statistics about how our sector has reacted to the recession, and it’s concerning that an industry that already experienced widespread bad practice in this area (and has consistently been cited as being overly-dominated by closed middle-class networks) appears to be getting even less accessible.
At the same time institutions like ours are doing their best to widen access to UAL to a broader demographic than before.
Under-paid
Seventeen per cent of employers have chosen to use cheaper recruitment methods this year, such as keeping on work experience students and using word of mouth or recruiting people they already know rather than placing an advert.
The reputation of our creative industries in the UK and across the globe is built upon the capacity to produce extraordinary things.
The difference between charitable volunteering and community work, and holding up poorly-budgeted businesses is far too blurred, and within this bizarre shadowy tier of work, the creative graduate is all too often seen as the easiest element to skimp on.
It’s all very well to cite the value of experience, to espouse the great time we might have working on an exciting project, but even the most prolifically inspired artist still needs to eat and pay the rent.
We must fight for a meritocratic education system and industry where anyone with the talent and aspiration to succeed is enabled to do so, no matter what background they have come from.
SUARTS continues to work against the exploitation of unpaid interns and workers in the Arts through the Arts Group: www.artsgroup.org.uk
The Creative Careers survey is available from www.arts.ac.uk/student/careers
Look out for next weeks issue when we will be discussing the whole issue of internships and work prospects in much more detail.
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