Arts Group

In response to pressure from fair pay campaigners, the Arts Council England (ACE) has begun to crack down on illegal postings on its site Arts Jobs.

Staff at ACE summarized the organization’s stance thus:

We take complaints about postings on Arts Jobs very seriously and it is helpful that you have highlighted adverts for us which do appear to contravene the Minimum Wage Regulations (MWRs). We will ensure that postings which we feel contravene the MWRs are removed and will, where possible, provide feedback to the organisations which posted them.

We understand that the following additional steps have also been taken:

1. The Terms & Conditions of use of the site state:

“you warrant that any posting is for bona fide paid employment or a volunteering opportunity and that you are not in breach of any relevant law from time to time in force including, but not limited to, law relating to employment rights and equality/diversity. You agree that it is your responsibility to obtain proper legal advice regarding your obligations and responsibilities towards those whom your posting is aimed at”.

2. The statement on the front page, which we have recently updated, asks posters to ensure that volunteer opportunities are genuine. ACE has the right to suspend or terminate accounts for people who persistently post “volunteer” opportunities which are not genuine.

3. The moderators of Arts Jobs (Net Efficiency) will be briefed to ensure that their staff are clear about the NMW so that they can recognise when an advert is not for a genuine volunteer opportunity.

4. Enquiries team and other staff will be briefed on National Minimum Wage Regulations.

Whilst a step in the right direction, there does still appear to be a presumption there are many ‘voluntary’ opportunities genuinely advertised in our sector. It’s this author’s experience that a majority of  adverts for “voluntary” or “expenses only” posts actually represent unpaid work, are illegal, and are increasingly being used to replace freelancers. SourceThatJob’s stance on refusing to advertise any unpaid opportunities appears to be a better base to start from given that a lack of paid work and decent wages, rather than a deficit in volunteering, is the key issue for our sector. Nevertheless, any move from such a core organization is to be welcomed. Well done Arts Council!

More than 200 new arts jobs across London & Essex have been given the green light thanks to NDotM (New Deal of the Mind).

Working in partnership with a range of arts and cultural organisations including the British Library, Young Vic, Lyric Hammersmith, Notting Hill Mas and the Royal Court Theatre, NDotM successfully bid for funding through the government’s Future Jobs Fund which is aimed at helping find placements for young people who’ve been unemployed for six months or more.

167 people will be recruited through local Job Centres for the jobs in London. Meanwhile, 56 jobs have been created in association with Essex-based Theatre Resource which is one of the biggest disabled-led arts organisation in the UK.

Along with other placements announced previously, this latest announcement means that NDotM has helped identify and secure funding for over 300 jobs in the arts & creative sectors since its launch last March. That’s more jobs than days NDotM has been in existence.

Martin Bright, NDotM’s founder and Chief Executive said, “This is a great start to 2010 and means that 200 young people will be starting work in theatres, libraries, design studios and arts organisations who would otherwise have been stuck on the dole , their creative potential wasted.”

The people who’ll fill the first 30 FJF funded placements at London’s Southbank Centre are expected to begin work in early March.

www.newdealofthemind.com

The Arts Group is calling for legislation governing the practice of work experience, internships and placements. In its “Emerging Workers” document the Arts Group puts forward the case that Government action is needed in order to protect students and graduates in the arts and creative industries.

Many arts organisations and businesses are reliant upon unpaid workers, both on work experience and on longer term placements. Whilst the Arts Group recognises that some of these organisations are run on low budgets, it is not in the interest of diversity, equality or creativity for internships to remain as the preserve of the well off.

Kit Friend, Chair of the Arts Group commented “Access to the creative professions should be based on ability, not means. As the labour market is near saturated with those financially able to take up unpaid placements, equal access to the creative professions will not be realised unless internships are regulated by government.”

The Arts Group recognises that the creative sector is made up of a large number of small and medium enterprises, and calls for funding and bursaries to be made available to employers so that they are able to continue to offer internships that are genuine training and development opportunities.

>> A pdf of the report can be downloaded by clicking here

“The Employment Tribunals, sitting in Reading, have ruled that workers engaged on an expenses-only basis are entitled to payment at least in line with the national minimum wage, in addition to payment for the holiday they accrue.”

Read the rest>>

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.

Click here to visit http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Payinterns/ and sign up to stop the exploitation of unpaid interns in the UK

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!

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.