News Comment

Coverage of the campaign against the exploitation of unpaid interns across the creative sector and further afield (particularly in Parliament, where ministers including the Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw allegedly make use of unpaid interns to run their offices) has continued apace this year (AP211, AP213). In March, BBC Breakfast News reported claims that employers were illegally exploiting thousands of interns. The irony is that the BBC itself has been the target of my group’s (the Arts Group) criticism when a 2009 production openly broke the law by using unpaid arts students to produce props in a setup compared by the presenter to “a Victorian workhouse”. Nevertheless, the additional exposure was welcome. The most common argument against paying interns is usually “we couldn’t afford to run without them”. In Westminster, the political parties seem equally reluctant to consider running the whole country in accordance with the same national legislation that applies to business.
 

There is no excuse for an organisation to be modelled so that it cannot remain solvent without pricing out a generation of young people. It is just wrong to claim that lengthy unpaid work provides valuable opportunities and an entry route to a career for the masses. The growing expectation for emerging workers to grin and bear it privileges those from well-off backgrounds, and ignores the billions spent on widening participation and diversity initiatives across the UK. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Skillset, in collaboration with Creative & Cultural Skills and Arts Council England, has consulted with The Arts Group, and its Guidelines for Employers offering Work Placements in the Creative Industries (p3) show what we should be doing. Organisations should work to implement these guidelines as soon as possible – they even offer advice on how to legally and positively deliver unpaid opportunities. I’d argue that the guidelines are both relevant and broad enough that they should be rolled out across the UK workforce, including our Government.
Some of the attitudes behind the internship crisis in the creative sector expose a bigger problem – the perception of the worth of creative skills and product. For many arts graduates, lifetime earnings are so low they might be worse off than if they’d never done a degree. When the skills we learn offer a small or even a negative return, it’s time for us to change the model. We must aspire to create a sector of people who not only love their practice, but who reap the rewards for the contribution they make to the UK.
On this wider matter I must admit a vested interest, for I am considering my own career beyond student politics. Every year I see thousands of amazing graduates pouring out of art schools. I stroll around degree shows marvelling at the wealth of talent we produce. And like these graduates, I’ve loved being a creative and treasured the skills that were nurtured through my education. But I’ve also seen how much my schoolmates with other degrees are earning, and I’ve looked at how much I’ll have to earn to scrape by in London. So, after attending one of the top creative institutions in the world, doing work experience placements and freelance jobs for companies small and large, and being exhibited in the London Design Festival, I’ve taken a look at how much the sector I’ve defended and loved is likely to value me over a lifetime… and I’m applying for a job in business consultancy.