On the 15th of September 2008 bids at the Sotheby's London auction of Damien Hirst's works reached unprecedented highs. The art market was at its peak, before starting a phenomenal fall. On the other side of the Atlantic, in the very moments when bids were placed on Hirst's masterpieces, the investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Despite the financial turmoil, art dealers pretended that business was as usual; sales continued and the art sector proved resilient - profits, sponsorships, and museums' donations remained high amid the incipit of the financial meltdown. Signs of weakness suddenly materialized when global demand plummeted and lay offs started in the autumn 2008. From then onwards the art sector would change.
The deterioration of global demand has left art dealers short of clients, and has wiped out numerous opportunities for art professionals. Nowadays the job market for art professional has become overcrowded, and contractual conditions of qualified jobs have worsened. The economic downturn had a serious impact on volunteer works and unpaid internships, whose number increased exponentially without a similar surge in paid jobs at entry levels. Typically, unpaid work involves a mix of responsibilities such as acting as a receptionist or covering temporary absences and providing support to the day-to-day functioning of the hosting institutions. In principle, such experiences may lead to a more settled job in the sector. Many aspiring art professionals embrace enthusiastically this route to outset a career after graduation or to try a career change. Unfortunately, nowadays quite often an internship doesn't necessarily lead to a permanent job and employers use it to benefit from free labour rather than scouting around for new talents.
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES
Sabine Kohler, a qualified Sales & Marketing professional, aspiring to a career change in the art sector, comment on her recent internship at Zoo Art Fair 2009 in London: "My experience with internships left me with a feeling of free labour but also intensive training. In principle, I am not a fan of working for free, because it is only for people who can afford it and when something is for free, people often do not value it that much. However, I had a very good experience with Zoo Art Enterprises. They stage their art fair with around 50 interns and they depend heavily on them. They put a lot of thought into the internship programme and have dedicated personnel handling it throughout. The training includes presentations on the background and history of Zoo, gallery tours, and learning sessions at partner organisations. At the end of the experience they facilitate internship opportunities at their partner organisations and set up informal get-together meetings with the Zoo Team. All these initiatives made for a good learning experience and an opportunity to build career-lasting contacts. Moreover, their continuous on-the-job training and constant dedication helped me to fully appreciate their aims, develop a strong commitment to the job and create an overall sense of being valuable for the organization".
In her search for opportunities in the art sector, she also experienced less fruitful internship programs as one with a well-known art foundation that she declines to name: "I did not have the feeling I learned as much as I could have during my other internship in London. I was not able to contribute as much as I could have. I think this was mainly due to lack of planning and objectives from the organisations side - so I felt that the experience may be labelled ‘free labour' in the sense of just using interns to fill gaps, with no training or tangible opportunities".
PUBLIC SCRUTINY
The conditions of internships and unpaid work are undergoing serious public scrutiny. A recent parliamentary report on social mobility suggestively named ‘Unleashing Aspiration' by MP Alan Milburn's analyses the regulations and lays out practices for internships and unpaid work. A complete chapter of the report is devoted to potential opportunities to enter the art profession. According to the report, opportunities to undertake internships are yet not fairly distributed. The report casts concerns about the variable quality of internships: "The Panel have heard evidence that some companies use interns as a low cost way to cover positions that would otherwise be filled by a permanent full time member of staff" and the chapter concludes stating that "a radical change is needed".
Public scrutiny is gaining momentum as the London scene is becoming more and more active with several independent groups engaging with the public in discussing issues and uncovering unfair treatments. The Carrot Workers Collective (CWC hereafter) is an open group initiated by the members of the ‘Micro Politics Research Group' of the Goldsmith College which aims to investigate the underlying causes of the unprecedented increase in internships and unpaid jobs in the UK. The CWC comprises of students, artists, art teachers as well as established professionals. In May 2009 they organised ‘The Creative Jobs Survival Fair' led by Janna Graham, Education Project Curator at the Serpentine Gallery and member of the CWC, as part of the exhibition ‘At Your Service' at the David Roberts Foundation space in London. They produced videos and supportive material for prospective professionals with the aim of making job hunting more effective but also with the intention of raising awareness on the issues at the entrance of the profession. The fair was hosted by Christie's Education and attracted a great deal of public attention according to Gaia Tedone, Assistant Curator at the David Roberts' Foundation. Other independent groups organized similar events.
In September 2009 the Austrian Cultural Forum in Rutland Gate hold ‘MAKING A LIVING: artistic survival in 2009' as a follow-up event to the ‘FUNding FACTORY', a project initiated by Sophie Hope at Open Space Zentrum für Kunstprojekte in Vienna in May 2009. According to the organizer, the event was an occasion to share different approaches and ideas to outset and develop a successful art career in the aftermath of the recession. Their manifesto says it all: "MAKING A LIVING aims to highlight and discuss diverse ideologies underlying how we support and sustain ‘critical art practices'. How do our conceptual and pragmatic assertions impact on the way we choose to make a living and vice versa? We will investigate and invent a range of economic and conceptual models of artistic survival that move beyond the knee-jerk reaction to become ‘culturpreneurs' in the creative industries. As well as the issue of aiming to make a living through art we will ask ourselves what are the side-effects of such a career path, what are the alternatives and how do we negotiate the cultural production line we are inevitably a part of ?"
Other noticeable initiatives include the website ‘Interns Anonymous' which was established by two art graduates currently working as unpaid interns, with the aim of creating a forum to share experiences and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of unpaid employment. The project aims to gather evidence on real experiences and raise awareness on the issues that aspiring art professional would encounter at the start of a career. In the words of the founders: "We aim not just to be a discussion forum, but also a research base and a first port of call for anyone applying for an internship. Of course, as current interns ourselves, we know that an internship is all about experience and references for future employment. So, if you are willing to speak your mind we will keep your identity and that of your employer a secret. Like us, you will be interns anonymous".
THE WAY AHEAD
Foundations, museums and private galleries employ interns to help with basic administrative works and routine tasks often without offering real training and job opportunities within the same organization. What aspiring art professionals regard as valuable work experience and practical training that might lead to a permanent job is quite often considered free labour for employers who strive to survive in the aftermath of the global recession. To rectify this mismatch, many call for clearer regulation, which would align private and public interests. To achieve this, the Ministry of Culture and associations of art dealers need to work on common guidelines in order to raise standards on unpaid work with the aim of achieving social fairness as well as attract talented people in the profession. Regulation is under way: Her Majesty's Custom and Revenue is finalising guidelines to give internships the entitlement to the minimum wage. In the view of many, this is a first measure into the right direction.
ROMINA PROVENZI
is a writer and lives in London. She writes on contemporary art given the political, social and economic context that surrounds the art system. She is a specialist of the Cuban art market and of the London art scene.