When the economy tanked in the U.S. in 2008, corporations began to cut jobs in large numbers. Many of them then created unpaid internships to regain labor without the cost. Even after the economy began to recover, many corporations did not reinstate previous jobs, but chose to retain these internships. After a couple of high-profile legal cases (the courts being where America really conducts its government and creates public policy) the U.S. Department of Labor stepped in to put a little pressure on corporations regarding unpaid internships and now the U.S. has new, stricter, guidelines as to what may constitute an internship (paid or unpaid.)
You can get the short version here: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm <http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.htm>. Note that these guidelines were aimed at the “for profit” industry, but, in reality, many museums and universities (mine included) chose to voluntarily comply and this, along with other factors, has changed the conversation around arts internships in the U.S. Institutions now have less leeway to arbitrarily decide what positions counts as a job and which an internship and which is paid and which not. An internship (by the new U.S. DOL guidelines) must be primarily educational in nature and not primarily a working position. This should be manifest in how time is actually spent daily on-site.
I welcomed the chance to revisit the conditions of the long-standing fellowship at the museum that I had just begun managing as director. Our campus counsel advised me that there is a tricky legal area around paid internships that goes something like this: if you pay an internship an hourly wage, then you are treating that position as an employee; you’re admitting that it’s a wage job and therefore you have less support to even call that position an internship (of course, this is not the same in every nation.) One thing that hasn’t been brought up yet is the form of payment and the idea of a stipend vs. an hourly wage. However, how does one calculate a fair stipend? If you calculate it on average hours “worked” per year, then you’re back on that slippery slope of treating the intern position like a salaried worker. An alternative is to provide a stipend that subvents living expenses and is calculated on the annual cost of living in a particular area (rent, food, transport, etc.) It’s not a perfect solution (for instance, it does not alone address potential abuse of overtime), but it does provide some structure for compensation that works within current U.S. (at least) labor policies and helps mitigate the arts monoculture that has already been mentioned here. I’m happy to offer a museum fellowship accompanied by a solid stipend.
Richard Rinehart
Director
Samek Art Museum
Bucknell University
570-577-3213
http://museum.blogs.bucknell.edu
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Julia Pelta Feldman <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Two internship opportunities - internship ethics / and ISEA fees
> Date: August 27, 2015 at 8:05:39 AM EDT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Reply-To: Julia Pelta Feldman <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Hi Andreas, my organization, such as it is (we are a very modest
> operation), does not have interns. I am not speaking as a manager, but as
> someone who has seen many talented young people pass up wonderful
> opportunities they could not afford.
>
> As to your question of how much I believe interns should be paid, this of
> course depends on many contingent factors (number of hours worked, type of
> work, cost of living in that area, etc.). The simple, if perhaps unhelpful,
> response is that internships should offer enough money to be feasible for
> all qualified applicants.
>
> To answer your other question in an abbreviated fashion, I support the
> ideas and aims of the Intern Aware campaign mentioned just now by
> Catherine. Stronger efforts in this direction are badly needed in the U.S.
>
> Best, J.
>
> --
> Julia Pelta Feldman
> Director, *Room & Board*
> *artist's residency and salon*
> *Williamsburg, Brooklyn*
> www.roomandboard.nyc
>
> On Thu, Aug 27, 2015 at 1:29 PM, Andreas Broeckmann <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> hey julia, good morning!
>>
>> i understand your argument; can i ask two things which seem to follow on
>> from your reasoning; i ask this without cynicism, really just trying to
>> understand your thinking:
>>
>> - how/how much does your organisation pay interns? (or what would you say
>> how much interns should be paid, ethically?)
>>
>> - because of the discrimination and social imbalance that unpaid
>> internships create, would you say that, if they cannot be paid, then they
>> should not be offered/advertised at all? and, in order to put a brake on
>> the advantages of those who are wealthy anyway, do you think that even when
>> potential interns offer to do the internship for free, they should not be
>> allowed this?
>>
>> i think that one issue that has not been discussed in the thread is in how
>> far internships are "work"; in my experience, in many cases, they are: the
>> moment that the organisation begins to depend on this being done - whatever
>> the intern does -, rather than just observe and practice, it is work;
>> however, i have also been in situations where the effort of guiding the
>> intern was equivalent to the benefit of the work they were doing, so in
>> that case there was a quid-pro-quo...
>>
>> regards,
>> -a
>>
>>
>>
>> Am 27.08.15 um 13:00 schrieb Julia Pelta Feldman:
>>
>>> Andreas, I certainly agree that unpaid internships can be valuable
>>> experiences - indeed, they seem to have become a necessary step for entry
>>> into the art world, making them *in*valuable.
>>>
>>> The problem is that this experience is only available to those who can
>>> afford to work for free - as you yourself point out. And since it is
>>> difficult to get serious paid work without unpaid internships on one's
>>> resume, this system tends to create a class of art workers who are (to a
>>> greater or lesser extent) independently wealthy. This is not only terribly
>>> unfair, but also conducive to a kind of homogeneity that has negative
>>> consequences for the whole system. (Don't we want to encourage a variety
>>> of
>>> backgrounds and perspectives?)
>>>
>>> Simply put, when internships are not paid, then the hiring criterion is no
>>> longer about merit but about money. That is why they are unethical.
>>>
>>> Best, J.
>>>
>>>
>>>
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