Arts Group

Please visit our Registration page here to sign up to attend our October meeting in Liverpool on 19th/20th! now in London on the 19th/20th October!

Arts Group Chair, Kit Friend, met with representatives from the Arts Council England, Skillset, Creative & Cultural Skills (CCS) and Skillfast-uk, to discuss progress in the area of graduate internships. With our “Emerging Workers” paper due to launch soon, outlining our proposed direction in this area. We were grateful for the warm reception from these bodies, and look forward to a productive relationship ensuring the broadest possible benefit to those beginning their careers in the Creative Industries, free from exploitation and with an appropriate value attributed to their labour.

As students across the country get ready to receive their A-level results and look forward to going to university, new research by the National Union of Students (NUS) in conjunction with HSBC today reveals the ‘hidden’ costs associated with certain degree subjects.

The figures, which are taken from a forthcoming student experience report, will come as a shock to many whose chosen subject appears in the top half of NUS’ league table of ‘most expensive degrees’. Someone taking a degree in mathematical or computer sciences, for instance, will be looking at a whopping £1,430 yearly spend on books, equipment and fieldwork on top of their tuition fees and living expenses, compared to £432 for someone taking an education degree*:

Additional annual spend by degree course:
• Mathematical Sciences and Computer Science: £1430.40 • Medicine and Dentistry: £902.16 • Business and Administrative Studies: £873.36 • Creative Arts and Design: £701.04 • Engineering and Technology: £651.60 • Law: £642.48 • Languages: £635.28 • Historical and Philosophical Studies: £568.56 • Social Studies: £539.76 • Biological Sciences: £539.52 • Physical Sciences: £499.20 • Subjects allied to medicine: £461.52 • Education: £432.48

NUS President Wes Streeting said:
“It is completely unacceptable that applicants are left in the dark about the true cost of degrees. Many students preparing to go to university this summer may be in for a real shock.

“Universities need to be much more open about the hidden costs associated with different courses. There should be better information, advice and guidance about student finance on university websites and in their prospectuses.”

The report also suggests that students’ financial situations deteriorate during their time at university, leaving them more reliant on sources of funding other than their grants or loans. 29% of first year students rely on paid employment or other loans or credit as a source of funding, compared to 50% of final year students.

Wes Streeting added: “Universities should also provide students with better financial advice and support whilst they are at university, so they do not have to get into commercial debt or jeopardise their studies by taking on more part time work just to get by.”

As part of the Arts Group’s work on Emerging Workers, Arts Group’s Chair, Kit Friend, attended the consultation regarding Parliamentary Internships yesterday, and encouraged the initiative to consider the measures recommended as national legislation in the upcoming “Emerging Workers” report to be published soon. These include a 4 week/160 hour limit on unpaid work, and living wage for all interns up to 3 months, whereby they should move to being made regular employees and subject to the same rules and protection.

Phil Willis’ website with continued updates on the Parliamentary Internship enquiry is at www.philwillis.org.uk

More fantastic documentation on the generally shocking state of Internships in this country is at Interns Anonymous

The Next Meeting of the Arts Group will currenly be on October 19th/20th in Liverpool, overlapping with the NUS’ Town Takeover, watch this space for more updates soon.

It’s gratifying to see extensive coverage at the end of this week, from the Guardian amongst others, concerning the dawning awareness that huge numbers of skilled graduates are being effectively forced into a tier of unpaid work masquerading under the guise of “internships”. Those named and shamed include our own MPs with their interns, and many of the sectors that Arts students will emerge into – those deemed to be most attractive and competitive including journalism and media. The reality is that this problem existed even before the recession, and the creative industries have been allowed to build a reliance on this exploited workforce for far too long. If this push is what’s needed to achieve change it’s welcome, but a longer term culture shift that deals with more than the symptoms brought on the by recession is needed. If the Arts, and indeed the Government, are ever going to be an inclusive and accessible sector, those emerging into work must be paid fairly for their skilled labour. That many are not even receiving National Minimum Wage after years of education and professional development is astonishing, and we should not be afraid to take a strong stance on how wrong this is.

The Arts Group’s Chair, Kit Friend, has been in talks with the Arts Council England and others, and discussions with the DCMS and LSE around the subject are expected soon. The Arts Group’s policy on Emerging Workers will be released here imminently following discussion at our last meeting.

Click here to google “Internships Exploitation” and browse the coverage

Arts Group Chair, Kit Friend, attended the HE Networking Meeting at the Arts Council England (ACE – www.artscouncil.org.uk) to discuss progress to be made around the issues of internships and graduate employment. The draft copy of our Emerging Workers Policy was discussed, and future developments look set to be in the pipeline soon – watch this space!

Any raise in fees would make the catastrophic state of debt and fees for Arts students even more ridiculous. Sign up now to tell Gordon to oppose lifting the cap now!:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NohigherFees/

Please click here to download instructions for delegates attending the meeting on the 10th/11th July.

If you want to attend the meeting but haven’t registered yet, please do so via www.lufbra.net/artsgroupconference

Kit Friend, Chair of the Arts Group, was invited to attend the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Conference in Manchester as part of the first ever student panel, aimed at engaging students in the HEA’s work.

As part of the vigourous discussion put forward by the panel on the theme of the best and worst parts of the student experience, Kit spoke in particular about the inequality of the graduate premium, the need for the NUS’s funding blueprint for an alternative to top-up fees to be backed, and serious consideration given to the issues with the IELTS testing and international recruitment practices as a fair preparation for students. Both the ADM and Palatine subject centres were enthusiastic about the prospect of working with the Arts Group in the future to ensure a sustainable voice for students of the Arts.

Kit also visited the meeting of the CHEAD executive to present the Arts Group, and we look forward to working with this and other organisations in the HE sector in the coming months.

HEA website: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/
HEA Conference information and resources: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/conference
CHEAD Website: http://www.chead.ac.uk/

David Lammy MP delivered a speech at the RSA this week on the importance of a liberal arts education (transcript and podcast here).

It’s great to have the arts discussed properly by ministers, but for the many of us who already know how important they are, discussing how much we contribute and how wonderful culture is doesn’t really deal with the issues facing individuals and organizations on the inside.

It’s true that those parents who don’t see the “usefulness” in their child going on to study the arts need to be educated about the broad range of benefits of a career in the sector, at the moment at least, they do have a point. Whilst a career in the arts carries with it a significantly lower earning potential for the average practitioner, we’re never going to be able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our peers in medicine, engineering, business etc.

In recent discussion with professionals across a range of professions, now all well moneyed, I’ve found it fascinating how many are now returning to projects for the public good, and indeed the Arts. I’ve lost count of the number of businessmen and women, lawyers and doctors, who I’ve heard discussing that what they really care about is their photography, poetry etc. Never one to dissuade or be dissapointed by anyone engaging in creative activities, I love to hear these people connect their experiences with what’s “really important to life when you get down to it”. However, it must be said these seems to contribute very little to moving away from the feeling that engagement in the arts is largely a pastime for the wealthy.

The value placed on the learning and labour of those who choose to make the creativity their livelihood, by contrast, seems to constantly be questioned. A familiar scenario to most creative graduates will be the abundance of work experience adverts and “opportunities” asking for those with skills in everything from sewing to web design to give their time in exchance for the “experience” of working in an exciting company. These experiences may of course be wonderful, and indeed the companies exciting, but why should we not be paid a decent rate for our contribution? A company wanting a web design student to create or augment their online presence for instance, is not primarily doing so because they will benefit from the vibrant and fulfilling experience of having a creative in their midst, they are doing so to create profit. Even in the public sector, museums and galleries, we seem to run our institutions and organizations on a raft of free labour, relying on the enthusiasm and committment of a core of people entering a competitive market, and looking for any opportunity. It seems bizarre that even within the same buildings will sit a host of staff, from cleaners to executives who are carrying out similar tasks, but rightly expect to be remunirated for their labour (and indeed are protected by the National Minimum Wage).

Internships, work experience, apprenticeships and all the rest work well as part of a balanced learning experience. They must not be a way for businesses or organizations in any sector to buoy up poor practice that means they cannot afford to staff themselves adequately to stay open.

As famously referenced by Whistler in his defence of a two hundred guinea price tag on the Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, creatives have a right to expect decent remuniration for their work. We may enjoy it, it may even look relatively easy or quick, but the value attached must be a reflection not only of the time spent creating one piece, project or concept, but of the lifetime spent to get to the point where this can be delivered so fluently. We face a bleak picture for individuals in the creative sector until employers and clients are prepared to reflect our real value in what we are paid, employment legislation is formed and enforced to put in place a safety net, and the members of the creative community are prepared to take pride in their worth and not to bow to expectations of giving their labour for free to those who can or should be able to pay for it.

It’s time for the next meeting of the Arts Group!

Click here to register to attend

Topics currently planned for discussion include:

- Bursaries in Higher Education – 6 out of 10 of the bottom spenders in the recent Bursaries tables are Arts-specialist institutions. What can we do to make sure the additional income from our fees is being spent to enable access?

- Emerging Workers in the Creative Industries – Unpaid work experience, internships, and working for free for months or years are common place in parts of the Creative Industries and Cultural Sector – what is our stance, and where is the line drawn on unfair employment practice?

- FE Funding – The Learning Skills Council’s dispersion, and the future of Foundation courses and other areas of the Arts in FE, has been a topic at previous meetings. What’s going on and what can we do to preserve the core elements of Creative Education?

- The Future of the Arts Group – We’re here. We’ve got attention and a voice. What do we want from our collective and what are the key issues for the committee to act on for the next year?