Lamenting that internships do not pay happens with too
great frequency, often from the same circles, and
fails to recognize the state of museums in general. 
If one is paying attention and has been on this list
or others having to do with museums for a while, they
SHOULD know the following:

o  Far too many museums don't have the money to pay
their staff a commensurate salary given the education
level required.

o  Far too many museums are severely understaffed
because they don't have the budget to hire more
workers.

o  Far too many museums struggle just to stay open in
an era where funding is hard to come by, corporations
aren't making donations, citizens aren't dropping
money into the pots, and tourism/visitation is down.

o  Spending time to "train" an intern takes time away
from work at hand in a short-staffed institution. 
Someone assigned to work with the intern has their
time split between providing direction and training
(if any) and the work they normally have to do which
still must be done.

o  Some institutions use interns to do things they
simply don't have staff to do under normal conditions.
 This may include filing, data entry, cleaning, and
other kinds of less glorious work.  What does the
intern get in return?  The ability to be able to say
they did an internship and had some "work experience"
in an actual institution.

o  Reality isn't always nice.  The terms expressed
here are often the realities communicated by too many
of the harried museum professionals on list.  It's a
crying shame that the reality this presents for
interns is often less than optimal.  But use this
reality as a learning experience.  If they can't
afford to pay you for an internship, how big do you
suppose your salary is going to be if when hired?

o  Your potential future employer may be on this list.
 Be careful to whom you make snide remarks.

o  It's time to wake up and smell the Starbucks (you
probably cannot afford because the pay's not there). 
Things are rough all over.  If you got an internship,
you're lucky to have been selected so that you can
tell somebody you worked at a museum if only as a
grunt.

NOW, before you bitch, moan, and bite, this is NOT the
reality I would wish for a single soul here--well,
maybe there are a couple, but for 99.95% of you, no
way.  It's just the cold hard facts of life in museum
work in 2005 going on 2006.  Sorry it's not better,
but it's not, so don't come along and smack somebody
who at LEAST affords you an opportunity.  You don't
have to take it.  That's what the delete key is for if
the offer offends or doesn't interest you.  It's an
offer to apply, nothing more, nothing less, and all
the education in the world doesn't ENTITLE you to
anything in this life.  You better learn that now, and
it will save you a lot of heartache in the future if
you do.

Ok, I'm through harrumphing.  To borrow a trite
colloquialisim, "Save your drama for your mama!"



--- "David E. Haberstich" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> You do not need to apologize for offering unpaid
> internships, and I think the 
> suggestion that the Danvers Historical Society is
> exploiting unpaid workers 
> was unwarranted and unfair.  Such cynical rhetoric
> surfaces all too often on 
> this list.  Unpaid internships are an unfortunate
> fact of life in today's museum 
> world, but they serve a purpose, not just for the
> institution, but for the 
> intern.  In an ideal world, interns would be paid,
> but experience, college 
> credit, good references for future employment, and a
> line on a resume are also of 
> value.  I don't think any internship is exploitative
> unless paid staff are 
> goofing off while the intern works.  
> 
> David Haberstich



Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]

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