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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