Internships, volunteering and the problems of free labour in the arts:
Before I start, I have to acknowledge that there are many positives to volunteering, obviously! It can be an incredible contribution to society with numerous rewards for the individual. What I would like to talk about here is volunteering in the arts as a replacement for employment.
During my BA I volunteered at a number of galleries and, with the exception of one, I found I was generally clicking people in, making tea and cleaning the kitchen. No points for valuable experience at all, although I should point out it was a while ago now! They never worked out very well either as I was doing a degree, working up to 30 hours a week in two part time jobs, and they wanted people to work every Saturday and who would be at each opening. Not really possible for me! Since then I have been quite suspicious of and annoyed by volunteers being used as staff, not to mention the fact that I have never been in a position (financially) to take advantage of such things.
During the CCS meeting at Manchester I was very interested to hear what others had to say when it came to this point in the document. It confirmed my fears when the Curator from Manchester Art Gallery said she saw many problems in the system, but that their gallery would use free labour, beacause it could. She was quite sympathetic with the plight of people trying to find careers in the arts and said that they observed mainly middle-class white, female graduates volunteering – the people that (in Museums at least) end up forming the main part of the staff. She also said that because of the sheer number and quality of applicants for jobs at the gallery, people they employed for entry-level jobs were actually on their second or third job. This seems to suggest that there are not only too many artists, but perhaps also too many curators, administrators and managers for the work available.
I am not questioning the quality of internships that already exist out there – I already commented on Andrew Bryant's very positive experience at Tate and I also remember being very taken by the programme at Collective when I was graduating – but I am saying that they are simply impossible for lots of people. There also seems to be an unspoken tradition that it is difficult to get employment in institutions without putting in the free hours first.
An alternative to volunteering? It will always exist, but how about properly organised, valuable and PAID internships that are similar to apprenticeships or CPD training. Perhaps museums and galleries could also agree to abide by certain terms? There has to be enough provision for people to live and not get into debt by taking part, and previous experience volunteering should not be a significant factor in choosing from applicants.
I may not live in Scotland anymore (I went to eca back in the day..) but I still care what happens!
Arts Futures : Creative Scotland?
Wednesday Night Open
6 p.m. Wednesday 25th February 2009
Glasgow School of Art
Mackintosh Lecture Theatre
167 Renfrew St
Glasgow G3 6RQ
Leigh French and Guyan Porter will lead an artists' briefing & open discussion looking at recent events leading to the proposals for Creative Scotland.
Some of the key areas for discussion:
– history & contexts : how did we get here?
– core scripts revealed
– culture capture & creeping nationalism
– cultural entitlement & spaces of contention
– freedom of expression : legal frameworks
– crises of capital & public sector cultural provision
– national intimacy or cultural pluralism?
– progressive international cultural policy models
– how can artists & communities engage in policy development?
– where would we like to go : how do we get there?
Presenting Information Towards an Informed Debate…
free event – all welcome!
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For further information, please contact:
tara s Beall
Cultural Engagement Events Manager
The Glasgow School of Art
Studio 55 / Mac Bldg / 167 Renfrew Street / Glasgow G3 6UT
44 (0)141 353 4567
[email protected]
Through ACME Liverpool (basically a section of the city council) I was lucky enough to get some free business advice with David Parrish last week. I was expecting similar to previous experiences: someone interested in how to make money and who didn't really understand how that may or may not be possible within the confines of an artists' world.
Instead, I found I had a very generous two hours to talk over tea, very informally, with someone with a lot of experience in the arts. This makes a difference in terms of understanding how I am a non-expandable business (it's just me and although I have a twin sister, that doesn't count) and also, most importantly, that I have no desire to be expandable. I don't want to outsource work making random stuff to make money. I want to make my work and do it without compromise – well mostly without compromise. I came out thinking quite differently about values (mine), marketing those values and looking in slightly different places for paid work without having to cross over to some other area. He also gave me a copy of his book: 'T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity', which can also be viewed online for free from his website – go get it.
http://www.davidparrish.com/
I have been away for a few days due to a very poorly Grandpa, but am still thinking about the CCS meeting (see previous three posts) and the issues it brought up. I still need to send them some feedback so I don't want to forget anything!
Adressing the conversation in order of relevance then, the most contentious issue and most pertinent for me, was that of the artist and their employment or working patterns.
It was quite worrying that the document talked of jobs, employers and skill sets (even standardising an artist job description!) when this model bears little relevance to how most artists operate. Personally, I am of the 'portfolio career' persuasion. This translates as: Working in the studio and exhibiting: at the Tate; for Oxford University; some (teeny) book sales; and getting paid for the odd talk or activity.
I have no pension, plenty of debt and certainy no savings. I feel foolish even saying that and still choosing to live my life as I do.
Additionally, the document did not address the fact that artists are responsible for generating so much of their own work; they do things for free, apply for funding or look for partnerships. Does all this activity fall under the radar then? Again a-n came into its own as one of the few bodies/publications that truly understands how it all works. I am often spurred on by the fact that I see my peers in the magazine. It is a bridge between the land of graduate to mid-career artist that is (I think) the most difficult.
cont..
and some issues to tackle:
Lack of awareness of employment opportunities within the sector.
Artists not trained for business.
Insufficient entry routes for young people into the sector.
Skills and experience do not match job vacancies.
Qualifications do not prepare fine art graduates for work or fully participate in the sector.
Lack of diversity among the workforce.
Not enough opportunities to develop skills in post.
Access to training for those outside formal employment.
Specialist training needs not met.
Staff retention in the sector poor.
Poor employment conditions.
Organisations lack people with business skills.
Not enough emphasis on leadership.
Insufficient auditing of skills needs.
Not enough sharing of good practice across the sector.
Insufficient partnerships between employers and higher education bodies.
Although some strong membership and representative bodies exist there are some gaps e.g. commercial galleries.
There is no professional union equivalent to Equity in the theatre sector.
