I must agree with those who are troubled by the class issue that arises
with unpaid internships.

Finding paying jobs/internships in museums is competitive, particularly
with so many potential employees/interns with graduate degrees.  As
funding to cultural institutions continues to decrease and the demands
placed on museums as cultural centers increases, fewer paid internships
exist, while the demand for interns is strong.  And, the requirement of
internship experience for entry-level positions prevents those who could
not afford to work for free an opportunity to try museum work.

I am currently working in a federal museum (only after finding a paid
internship) and we depend on the labor of interns to help with our work
load.  Our institution cannot pay more than a paltry $300 for a
semester's internship.  It is something, however, it is not enough for
someone to relocate to Washington for a summer when they need to make
enough money to return to college the next school year.

Many institutions offer flexible internships so that students can work
full-time and intern during free time, and that is a good compromise for
some.     As with many museum issues, a little more funding would help.

Sheila Brennan
The Navy Museum
        ----------
        From:  Sacoman, Mariah [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
        Sent:  Thursday, January 07, 1999 2:43 PM
        To:  [log in to unmask]
        Subject:  Paying interns

        As a still fairly young working professional, I thought I would
put in
        my two cents worth about the intership issue.  It was only five
years
        ago that I was an intern myself, and it was one of the best
summers of
        my life, so I remember it well.  I was fortunate enough to be
paid a
        stipend from the university I was attending to help defray the
costs of
        living.  I know now that had I not received some sort of payment
it
        would have been difficult to do the internship without having to
work
        nights and weekends or having to borrow money to get through the
summer.
        Thankfully, my program recognized the needs of its students.
But, as
        one subscriber noted, we did pay for the college credit in the
first
        place. . .

        My feeling is that as a profession we have a duty to pay people
who come
        to work for us.  In some cases it is difficult for an
institution to do
        this, but if an institution is committed to a good internship
program, I
        feel it is their responsibility to find a way to pay their
interns
        whatever they can.  (I can give a good example here if anyone
needs
        one.)

        I find that my biggest philosophical difficulty with unpaid
internships
        is that museum work remains the domain of the elite or those of
        independent means, and let's face it, we can't achieve diversity
and
        "Excellence in Equity" when we don't pay people.  In some cases
museums
        will miss an opportunity for an excellent candidate due to lack
of
        funds, or a good student will miss out on a good learning
experience
        because he or she has no money to live off of for three or four
months.
        I am not going to make a lot of friends saying this, but this is
a
        *class* issue that we must confront in our profession.

        I also feel that paying people encourages responsibility and
good work.
        Pay is their "buy in," if you will.  This is also why I feel
that
        interns should be given performance evaluations, but that is
another
        issue.

        Thank you all for your time.

        Mariah Sacoman
        NM Hispanic Cultural Center
        600 Central SW, Suite 201
        Albuquerque, NM 87102

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