Saturday, 31 of July of 2010
Representation and action for students of the arts
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
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.
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!
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
