Monday (11/28) on The Stage, Alistair Smith reports, “Arts Council England and Creative and Cultural Skills have published guidelines for arts organisations wanting to take on interns, including that they pay them at least national minimum wage. The document outlines the legal obligations for arts and cultural organisations offering internships, as well as highlighting best practice. In addition to paying interns a wage, it recommends that companies offer an ‘open, transparent and fair’ recruitment process and give interns ‘meaningful experiences and responsibilities that contribute to the aims of the organisation’. Arts council chief executive Alan Davey said: ‘We firmly believe that arts and culture will benefit from the new ideas and perspectives presented by a workforce drawn from all sectors of society. Well-planned, paid internships have a role to play in bringing about this change by helping people from all backgrounds gain experience of working in the arts. … The report follows a number of complaints about arts organisations offering unpaid internships. Most recently, backstage union BECTU wrote to the Old Vic Theatre urging the organisation to pay its interns.”
Posted December 1, 2011
