Output details

Intern Culture: A literature review of internship reports, guidelines and toolkits from 2009-2011

Co-authored.

Intern Culture is a research report commissioned by an external body, Artquest, a National Portfolio Organisation of the Arts Council of England. It was co-written with Joanna Figiel. The report mapped and analysed existing literature, guidelines and policy documents concerning internships in the cultural sector from 2008-2011, with a specific focus on the issue of internships in the visual arts. This was the first time documents published in the UK had been brought together and systematically reviewed and analysed. The report has been used to directly inform Artquest’s programme of paid internships for University of the Arts graduates. It also provides interns with information on their rights and gives organisations working with interns an understanding of the legal context within which they operate. The report has also fed into debates on the ethical implications of endorsing and encouraging free labour in the visual arts, often supplied by those who can least afford it. The report includes an overview of the historical context of internships, a comparison of ‘best practice’ guidelines collated from a variety of sources, an exploration of the critical differences between social mobility and social justice and the business and legal cases for paying interns, including information on existing enforcement remedies for interns who have been exploited. Intern Culture was published in May 2012 on the Artquest website and launched on 17 October 2012 at The Showroom, London.