Big issue, small fund

Arts organisations that host internships for arts graduates from low income backgrounds may be eligible for funding to cover their recruitment and administrative costs under a new £600,000 scheme announced by the DCMS. The ‘DCMS/Jerwood Creative Bursary Scheme’ would also provide payment at just over the national minimum wage for the recipients of the internships. However, student leader Kit Friend, Chair of The Arts Group, called the scheme “a drop in the ocean of mass exploitation”. Speaking to AP, he applauded the sentiment behind the scheme but added that the reality “is so meagre as to pale into insignificance in the shadow of the indefensible problem that is the unpaid internship”. Scott Morris, an arts graduate and MA student, said the fund was “great news” and hoped that it would offer significant numbers of placements in future. However, he was also concerned that it would “let the employers off the hook”, and added, “If it’s hoped that this scheme will encourage non-selected arts organisations to... offer competitive paid internships, I think this is naive.” Equity and the Musicians Union have given the scheme a cautious welcome.

The fund will be managed by the Jerwood Foundation and will target those unable to afford to take up unpaid internships. The bursaries are aimed at graduates wishing to work as actors, musicians, artists, dancers or elsewhere in the performing and visual arts as well as in front of house and managerial roles, and are likely to be channelled through host organisations in the arts sector. Recent graduates who have been in receipt of a full maintenance grant while at university (conditional on having an annual family income of less than £25,000) will be eligible to apply.
Despite a high-profile launch by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, full details of the scheme are yet to be confirmed. Host organisations will be chosen and monitored by the Jerwood Foundation, although it is not yet decided whether organisations will be able to apply to become part of the scheme. Kate Danielson, Director of DCMS/Jerwood Bursary Scheme, told AP, “We’re not throwing the net too wide, to make it more manageable at this stage.” There is also some discussion over whether the term ‘internship’ will be used, because the precise nature of the placements has yet to be defined.
Paul Collard, Chief Executive of Creativity, Culture & Education (CCE), the national organisation for cultural and creative programmes, said that the Creative Bursaries are “certainly a step in the right direction to ensuring that young people from all backgrounds have the option to enter a career in the creative industries”. CCE has recently published its own research showing that children from more affluent families use connections to get onto the creative industry career ladder, whilst poorer households are more likely to seek government help (the ‘Creative Industries’ report by YouGov on behalf of CCE). Creative and Cultural Skills (CCSkills), the sector skills council for the creative industries, has also warned of a “skills time bomb” in the performing arts industry, especially in the areas of technical support, administration, IT skills and business development. CCSkills’s ‘Blueprint for the Performing Arts’, published last month, shows that 55% of businesses failed to invest in staff training during 2008/09, while 40% say that they have no time to train their staff.