The real heart of the issue is that legally speaking an unpaid
insternship is supposed to be solely for the benefit of the student and
like Marc said is a contribution by the employer to the field.
If your intern is doing ANY work that benefits your organization and is
not created solely for their educational benefit then it is illegal to
pay them. Which means yes they should be trained and your return is
meant to be minimal.
This article deals with the judges ruling on the matter of unpaid
interns who worked on the film "Black Swan'
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/13/unpaid-internships-on-black-swan-violated-the-law-so-are-they-dead.html
Bottom line interns are not meant to be unpaid employees, they are
being trained and institutions are meant to do this to benefit the
field.
I suspect that more court cases will follow as more institutions take
advantage of what they view as free labor.
And yes sadly the way our field is set up many cannot get full-time
employment without interning and if you need to work to live or have a
family that is a near impossibility. Which means that only those who are
wealthy enough to not have to work can afford to get gainful employment?
Consider where this will lead us.
---
Suzanne Reed
On 2013/06/14 09:51, Marc A Williams wrote:
> My second take concerns specifically conservation. I have had several
> interns which have been pro-bono. The conservation graduate programs
> now require conservation experience as a pre-requisite of being
> accepted into the program. This creates a bit of a conundrum. In most
> instances, the prospective student does not have knowledge or
> experience, and therefore it is not worth the conservator's time to
> hire them. An experienced conservator could be hired instead, with a
> much greater return on investment. So why take on an intern? How does
> it work financially?
>
> In my experience, I am hoping for a balance between lost income when
> I train the intern, with billable services I can obtain from the
> intern once they have useable skills. Every hour I spend instructing
> and training is an hour I can not charge for and is lost from income.
> Once interns are rudimentarily trained, they can only produce a
> fraction of the output of a trained conservator. This is a constant
> challenge. Some interns have been a good financial choice, and some
> have actually cost me money to have them. So, my personal objective
> has been to provide the intern with a training opportunity that will
> assist them in getting into graduate school. It is essentially a
> contribution to the field from my perspective. On the balance across
> all interns, the lost income has been nearly balanced by the paid
> services I could charge for, so this arrangement has been good for the
> intern and slightly negative for me. To the best of my knowledge, all
> of my interns have gotten into graduate conservation schools, which
> was their ultimate goal. However, it still begs the question posed by
> Randy, et all, that only rich kids can afford this. Some of my interns
> were "rich", and some ponied up on their own, theoretically to be
> returned by income after graduate school.
>
> If someone is salaried, such as a museum or government employee, this
> discussion becomes moot, as they continue to receive their salary when
> instructing the intern, and there is no potential loss of income to
> them (should I say shame on them or is that too extreme?). So my
> comments only apply to a situation when real money is on the line.
> This includes conservation regional centers (not-for-profit), as well
> as independent conservators.
>
> Marc
>
> American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
> 4 Rockville Road
> Broad Brook, CT 06016
> www.conservator.com [6]
> 860-386-6058
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> FROM: Randy Little
>> TO: [log in to unmask]
>> SENT: Friday, June 14, 2013 9:44 AM
>> SUBJECT: Re: [MUSEUM-L] internship opportunity
>>
>> AWESOME more internships for Rich kids. There is a reason the House
>> of Reps Acronym is HOR.
>>
>> ( warning this article is written by a an an abashed leftist)
>> http://www.policymic.com/articles/48713/unpaid-internships-lawsuit-2013-dear-liberal-nonprofits-pay-your-interns
>> [3]
>>
>> Randy S. Little
>> http://www.rslittle.com [4]
>> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325729/ [5]
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 9:19 AM, Elliott, Farar
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
>>>
>>> Position Available: Intern
>>>
>>> Vacancy Announcement Number: N/A
>>>
>>> Office/Location: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
>>>
>>> Closing Date: July 12, 2013
>>>
>>> Salary Level/Range: Unpaid
>>>
>>> Proposed Starting Date: September 2013
>>>
>>> End date: December 2013
>>>
>>> JOB DESCRIPTION
>>>
>>> The Office of the Historian seeks an unpaid graduate intern with a
>>> strong interest in curatorial research, art history or material
>>> culture. The intern will assist the curatorial staff with:
>>>
>>> · Developing exhibitions and web content
>>>
>>> · Independent research in the House’s collection of paintings,
>>> prints, decorative arts, and artifacts
>>>
>>> · Art handling
>>>
>>> · day-to-day office operations
>>>
>>> · other special projects as assigned
>>>
>>> The intern must be highly motivated, collaborative, and possess
>>> excellent research and writing skills. He/she should also be familiar
>>> with standard art historical research methods. The Office is seeking
>>> an intern willing to work a minimum of 15 hours per week, but will
>>> also accommodate more hours if the intern needs to fulfill credit
>>> requirements.
>>>
>>> ABOUT THE OFFICE
>>>
>>> The House’s archival and historical offices research and collect
>>> more than 200 years of U.S. House of Representatives history in the
>>> form of fine and decorative art, artifacts, biographical information,
>>> historical analysis, and provide a variety of services concerning
>>> historical publications, the House Collection, and the records of the
>>> House.
>>>
>>> APPLICANT INSTRUCTIONS
>>>
>>> Please email a cover letter and resume to [log in to unmask] or
>>> fax to 202-226-4635 [1]. Please include “Curatorial Internship Fall
>>> 2013” in the subject line of the email or fax.
>>>
>>> -------------------------
>>>
>>> To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
>>> http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1
>>> [2]
>>
>> -------------------------
>>
>> To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
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>> [2]
>
> -------------------------
>
> To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
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> [7]
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] tel:202-226-4635
> [2]
> http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1
> [3]
> http://www.policymic.com/articles/48713/unpaid-internships-lawsuit-2013-dear-liberal-nonprofits-pay-your-interns
> [4] http://www.rslittle.com
> [5] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325729/
> [6] http://www.conservator.com
> [7] http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1
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