The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project has released a study that finds arts internships are important, but that paid internships are more effective for the interns in the long term than unpaid internships. “The Internship Divide: The Promise and Challenges of Internships in the Arts,” results from 2011-13 surveys of thousands of people with undergraduate degrees in the arts in the U.S. Among the findings: alumni who completed paid internships fare especially well on the job market compared to alumni who have never been paid interns, with 89 percent of the former finding work within one year of graduation, compared to 77 percent for the latter. In addition, women are more likely to do unpaid internships (57 percent, versus 46 percent for men); 75 percent of recent alumni who interned while in school indicated that parents or family helped pay for their education; and certain majors are more likely to have paid internships (e.g., architecture at 79 percent) versus others (music and performance at 25 percent). The Strategic National Arts Alumni Project is part of the Indiana University School of Education’s Center for Postsecondary Research. To read the study, click here.
Posted June 26, 2015
