Arts Group

Hello Comrades,

We’ve received the following info from our friends at http://actorsminimumwage.wordpress.com:

Oh what exciting times we live in! Lets rush to the barricades and die singing like French students in English musicals!

The organisers of ActorsminimumWage Blog (whom the Arts Group has been supporting with medical supplies and ammunition – and advice) are working with other actors and revolutionaries to bring the first act of organised resistance against the oppressor.

There is talk of a month long boycott of unpaid theatre to oppose the elitism and exploitation of emerging professionals in the acting profession.

It would be great for members to support this effort, and get you all joining in with the debate: vote and make comments on the Actors Minimum Wage website.

Take part in the poll and read more about la resistance: http://actorsminimumwage.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/the-boycott-question/

Viva la revolucion!

The Arts Group has sent the Europe Unit & European Commission its response to their request for suggestions on Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries.

See the manifesto I was standing on here, and the video & manifesto of the winning candidate, Usman Ali.

Alas twas not to be, but I’m sure the NUS will go on and serve Arts Group member Unions well regardless in the year to come. Thankfully the Arts Group policies which will mean alot to Arts Students nationwide passed – see the details at http://www.artsgroup.org.uk/2010/04/nus-passes-policy-on-internships-arts-education/

Arts Group Chair, Kit Friend, appeared on the BBC last weekend to defend the rights of interns to proper pay and treatment, highlighting specifically the issues with equality and diversity that the current lack of enforcement encourages.

To see the Arts Group’s recommendations on internships read the Emerging Workers Report here

Arts Group Chair Kit Friend presented at the NALN/UKADIA Conference with Skillset’s Gini Stirling around the issue of unpaid internships and their effect on widening participation in the Arts, following on from the Arts Group’s Emerging Workers Report and subsequent discussion with Skillset and others.

Download the pdf of our presentation: “Internships: Counting the cost”

Download the full draft of the Skillset report here: http://www.skillset.org/uploads/pdf/asset_14315.pdf?1

The BBC have published a news feature on the exploitation of interns including a fantastic interview with friend-of-the-Arts-Group Alex Try of Interns Anonymous.

It’s great to see the BBC bringing the issue up. Let’s hope they’ll be paying attention to working practice on all their programmes and making sure to prevent embarrassments like James May’s gloating over the use of unpaid Arts students in his productions.

Full link to the news article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8518617.stm

The Arts Group’s first meeting of 2010 will be held on 11th-12th February in Lincoln.

Please register your details below and we will contact you with joining instructions/accomodation info.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

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.

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/

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?

Arts Group Chair, Kit Friend, attended the Mayor’s “State of London” Discussion to query the leadership of our capital on what they planned to do to prevent the perpetuation of exploitation of underpaid creative graduates to fuel the cultural heritage of the city. There weren’t any great answers, other than upcoming work on internships detailed by Munira Mirza, Director of Arts and Culture Policy, Mayor’s Office, and the discussion got diverted onto apprenticeships and sports by Kate Hoey MP – but the topic’s out there, and we look forward to the internships roundtable discussion later this month due to be chaired by Munira.

Podcasts from the day should be available soon from www.lbc.co.uk