ACE Suspends adverts for unpaid jobs
From thestage.co.uk
Adverts for voluntary jobs and unpaid work experience have been temporarily suspended on Arts Council England’s jobs website because it was feared that many contravened minimum wage regulations.
ACE is redeveloping the Arts Jobs site so that users can only offer “genuine volunteering opportunities” that are within the minimum wage regulations.
Users posting job adverts will have to answer mandatory questions and fill additional entry fields once the changes have been made to the website.
ACE expects the improved unpaid opportunities function to go live by September.
A spokesperson for ACE said: “We are committed to ensuring that artists and those who work in the creative industries are properly remunerated for any work that they do.
“We recognise that there is great value in people having access to proper work experience, where it is offered and arranged properly and is a mutually beneficial arrangement, but that this should never be used as a way of attempting to circumvent the minimum wage regulations.”
What do you think about this issue? Should we be restricting job listings on this site to paid positions?
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Skillset has published guidelines distinguishing between internships, volunteering, work placements, work experience etc. and outlining what is and is not legal in these different arrangements. The guidelines, produced in collaboration with Creative & Cultural Skills and Arts Council England, are downloadable here: www.skillset.org/companies/your_staff/placement...
The guidelines are aimed at employers but are equally relevant to individuals to know their rights in terms of wages, training entitlements, expenses payments and working hours. They are accompanied by case studies of media professionals who’ve started their careers on placements or internships.
Separately, the campaign Intern Aware, is campaigning for interns to receive the minimum wage and for closure of legislative loopholes that enable firms to employ unpaid labour: www.internaware.org
These two resources could inform the debate on what is and is not appropriate to promote via Theatre Bristol.
Theatre Bristol is in receipt of public funding via ACE and Bristol City Council. Since public grants must be spent lawfully TB therefore has a legal duty to ensure that it promotes lawful work and isn’t a haven for illegal work.
I think the issue for TB is that it isn’t sure itself whether its a noticeboard for am dram or a noticeboard for professional theatre. On no other jobs websites do they advertise unpaid jobs alongside paid ones – why should the theatrical industry should be an exception?
I’d make the suggestion that the ‘Jobs’ section should be paid work ONLY, but everything else can be listed under ‘Opportunities’? Not much of a change, but a small step that could make a big difference in people’s opinions.
It’s good to have guidlines in place, but how do you make sure these gide lines are adhered to? Someone keen to brake into theatre and performance is unlikely to know what they’re entitled to, or care, as long as they get an opportunity to perform in, or be part of a production. Maybe before a job opp is listed, their budget has to have an open book policy for the people listing the job to look at, to make sure that the rules are being followed.
Having spent three years training as an actor and then a further three years carving out a career in this industry I have a broad awareness of what is deemed acceptable working conditions. During this period I have worked on paid Equity contracts and no/low pay projects. Whilst I disagree with the handful of unscrupulous and inexperienced “professionals” who use and exploit the masses of hungry actors out there, I do however understand that in a harshly competitive market, axing unpaid job posts make it even more difficult to break into the industry.
I currently run a local professional theatre company and whilst the main core of the company are its founders and current organizers, to continue to constantly develop the work an element of quality control has to be maintained, and this means sometime fishing around for new and diverse talent. As a relatively new company, due to arts cuts and funding limitations, not being able to pay actors, or indeed ourselves, becomes a harsh reality. Without being able to advertise makes emerging company’s job increasingly more difficult.
In an ideal situation there would be some way of regulating what is appropriate unpaid work that can be advertised and what is not.
“Arts Council England is committed to ensuring that artists and those who work in the creative industries are properly remunerated for any work that they do.”
Anyone in receipt of ACE funding has an obligation to follow suit, not only that but its the law.
At the risk of sounding like Nick and Dave…
I’m not so sure being in receipt of public money is necessarily a great measure of moral or social obligation. I think that we all have a responsibility to employ appropriately, fairly and openly. Just because I don’t receive public money doesn’t mean I should be able to do whatever I like. Exploitation is just bad wherever it happens isn’t it?
In a society where all value is measured in economic terms I’m not sure we’d have a great deal of art. I don’t mean to sound flippant but the reason I’m an artist is not driven by the desire to make money. That doesn’t mean I don’t need money to live or that I should be exploited by an employer. In my opinion it does mean that this issue is more complicated than just referring it back to the law.
I think this site and the theatre community in Bristol and the South West is enriched by the diversity of opportunity and content on it. I make no qualitative differentiation between Amateur theatre and so-called “professional” theatre companies (I’ve met a great deal of Amateur companies that are very professional). One of Theatre Bristol’s greatest achievements is to have taken away some of the hierarchy and snobbery in theatre in Bristol and personally I welcome being part of a rich and enriching community.
theatrebrsitol.net has been live for nearly 5 years now and in that time “jobs” has been by far the most visited section of the site after the home page. I am not aware of a single complaint about a job listing resulting in exploitation in that time. It doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened but it is a best indicator. I’d be interested to know of how many incidents Arts Jobs has recorded. Any ACE employed readers care to answer that?
Annie’s posted links are really helpful and I welcome the work that Skillset have done here. Maybe one possible solution could be to give higher prominence to information on best practice for employers and employees on the jobs pages and thereby increase awareness of the issues?
I think it is great to see this debate here.
First of all I want to say that I can’t live without artistic freedom or wages and I don’t think you have to choose between the two.
The main reason that actors have not ursued their right to the minimum wage is that they did not know this was their statutory right.
All employers have an obligation to pay workers minimum wage, unless certain exemption apply.
In the case of amateur companies the situation is pretty clear. Amateurs can work without wages, because the activities are not related to their professional activities. As soon as an amateur company hires someone with professional interests they should pay them at least NMW.
An example of a professional interest would be evident in objective criteria such as membership in a trade union (Equity) or by listing themselves as actively seeking paid work with an agent, or including themselves in a professional directory (spotlight, casting call pro, Shooting People, etc)
So a site like www.theatrebristol.net could post specifically for amateur or professional roles in production if they can define objective criteria like that above. You could even have a mixed production based on this criteria, which would theoretically be to the benefit of both categories.
Read more about this issue at www.actorsminimumwage.WordPress.com
The fact that “Professional” is used as positive description is because most professionals are trained, experienced and skilled in their chosen field which is why the term Professional has come to signify a certain standard of excellence.
There are several publicly funded theatres who regularly pay actors less than Equity minimum for certain projects. This contravenes ACE funding recommendations. It also contravenes both the TMA/Equity Agreement and the ITC/Equity agreement. That seems very clear and straightforward.
For a small company to do profit share is very different from a funded organisation paying people below the minimum wage.
It’s interesting that jobs such as Creative Producer, Marketing Officer, Development Director etc are NEVER unpaid. It’s ALWAYS the performers and other artists that are expected to work for nothing or ‘expenses’.
I think the debate is getting away from the original issue which is that a lot of arts organisations are now offering ‘internships’ where they expect people to work for nothing – these are primarily aimed at new graduates.
Whilst this might provide a great opportunity for young people from families which can support their children financially during the internship, it excludes many people from poorer families. Currently it’s quite hard for people to find out about where interships exist – so there’s a concern that they are being filled by those with connections within the sector which means that we perpetuate a fairly inward looking culture.
The essential thing is that internships are set up as professionally as any other paid post within an organisation. In my view this means there should be a clear description of the work required & a person spec is drawn up; the internship is recruited through an open process; the intern is given proper induction & managerial support, etc. etc. An intern should be paid the minimum wage.
In addition to the links already given, here is a link to Skillset’s code of pratice for internships www.skillset.org/uploads/pdf/asset_14315.pdf?1
I think that within the sector we need to get clearer about the differences between ‘interns’, ‘volunteers’ and those on ‘work experience’ – that way people can make their own choices about how they get a ‘foot in the door’… and discover that you won’t get rich working in the arts, but you might just get happy…
Theatre Bristol (this website) is in receipt of public funds – it must promote paid work otherwise its using public funds to promote lawbreaking and that’s not what I pay my taxes for.
Ruth – surely the debate about internships is the same as the debate about ‘unpaid professionals’ – not everyone can afford to work for nothing. In both situations the end result is “an inward looking culture”….
I would argue vehemently that professionals working in the arts should be paid professional rates. Anyone who works for nothing or for very low rates is doing the whole sector a huge disservice.
However, there have to be ways that school leavers, new graduates, or people who want to change careers can start their career path in the arts. Surely it’s TB’s role to support this element of the development of the sector, and therefore to be able to promote internships, work experience, & volunteering opportunities which do this – as long as there’s evidence that they are not exploitative.
‘The Performing Arts Blueprint’ published in Feb this year has some really interesting stats around employment and training in the Performing Arts e.g. 53% of performing arts employees say they have recuritment issues because applicants lack experience, and 21% that applicants lack the right specialist skills for the job. Very few think that applicants don’t have the right qualifications… which points to the need to give people more opportunities to develop their skills and experience.
The report also makes it clear that most performing arts courses ’don’t necessarily prepare people for work’ and careers advice workers ‘tend to be unaware of the non-performance-based opportunities available to young people’. The report concludes that ‘there is much to be done to ensure that the workforce in the performing arts sector is diverse and enterprising, prioritieses ongoing development opportunties, is strong on management and leadership, and develops and undertakes relevant, hands-on qualifications that will increase the likelihood of filling a suitable job role.’ Here’s a link to the PAB http://ccskills.org.uk/LinkClick.aspx?fileticke...
The performing arts would not need so many entrants if workers were paid enough to retain them in the industry. Perhaps there is far too much money spent on training aspirants that could be spent on pay and training for current workers.
That said, interns are classed as workers and should be paid. It’s the law.
For Pete’s sake make your mind up. How many days do you need to think about this?
‘Unpaid work’ is surely a contradiction in terms – if you are working, then you should be paid. Not just a moral obligation, but a legal one: under the National Minimum Wage Regulations anyone who is a worker must be paid at least the National Minimum Wage. But what is the definition of ‘worker’?
Some of this is a grey area and thus it is so many ‘employers’ (if they don’t pay for your work, are they still employers?) get away with exploiting often young and inexperienced people.
Parts of the following scenario may sound familiar: you discover, say, stage management at university where you are doing an unrelated degree. Once you graduate, you want to get into stage management, but it’s not that easy without appropriate training, contacts and experience. So you sign up to Stage Jobs Pro and answer one of the adverts for unpaid work, hoping that it will give you the required experience to move on to professional paid work. The advert might even be promising work experience and seem entirely appropriate. Once you start, though, you realise that this is no work placement – there is nobody professional for you to learn from and you are entirely on your own. But,you battle on, making it up as you go along as you have been doing at university. Half way through the ‘job’, when you’ve already been working 70 hours a week doing absolutely everything, it’s casually mentioned that you’re expected to wash and iron all the costumes, too, and you finally see that this is sheer exploitation.
You might refuse and try and have a reasonable conversation about this. But the producer won’t be having it and pulls out their ultimate trump card: this is a very small industry and you are building up valuable contacts, if you walk out of this job they’ll find hundreds of others who want to do it.
Wrong – they often find it hard to staff unpaid positions, even given the number of youngsters keen to work in theatre. I know this because they come to the Stage Management Association asking for help and are often not pleased if we point out, ever so gently, that they’d have no trouble finding a stage manager with the suitable experience if they paid them!
A word of reason first – it’s an entirely different situation if a bunch of mates from university get together and decide to put on a show, and you’re one of them. It’s likely to be a one-off and you’re on an equal footing with everyone else.
It’s when a company starts serially building up their success on the back of unpaid labour that you need to stand firm.
Some facts to help you:
- A work placement whilst you’re attending a higher education establishment is fine, and the uni or college you attend should have checks in place that it is a genuine opportunity for you.
Once out of higher education, you’re on your own. But you might wish to bear in mind the following characteristics the Stage Management Association (SMA) uses to define a genuine work placement:
1. It should be time-limited, usually to no more than 4 weeks.
2. You should be additional to a professional in the role.
3. There must be proper supervision and induction
4. You should have the opportunity to learn and receive constructive feedback.
Ideally, you should also be paid £10 a day expenses.
- National Minimum Wage: if you are being asked to undertake specific tasks, are called for particular hours and days, and expected to complete a task or job, then you are a worker, and you should be paid the National Minimum Wage. If you think you are in a situation like that, you can call the Pay and Rights Helpline on 0800-917 2368. There is also a useful website created by the TUC (Trades Union Congress) at rightsforinterns.org.uk with links to other sites.
Current minimum rates are: National Minimum Wage £5.80 an hour, London Living Wage £7.45 an hour and the ITC/Equity minimum £385 a week.
So why am I so passionate about unpaid work, ‘internships’ and work placements which are no such thing?
Because they are deeply and fundamentally discriminatory.
They are opportunities only open to those whose parents, friends, lovers are able and willing to support them financially. They close the doors of working backstage in theatre to many talented and keen young people who deserve to be given an equal chance and who are the future lifeblood of the industry.
And they also mean fewer opportunities for professional stage managers to earn a living.
Barbara Eifler is the Executive Director of the Stage Management Association (SMA) which represents, supports and promotes stage management.
If you need career advice, you are welcome to contact the SMA.
And feel free to download ‘Stage Management – A Career Guide’ FREE from our website (go to ‘Publications’)
We can also help you with genuine work placements and offer opportunities for networking, and lots and lots of useful information
If you’re a professional stage manager already – check out our fantastic range of services, from help finding work to our published and online resources and our career development offer.
See www.stagemanagementassociation.co.uk for details of services and how to join.
Should unpaid jobs appear on the site or not …a diverse range of ideas and opinions have been pitched into this arena – is it exploitation, or opportunity, are we as a community of practitioners here to encourage talent to join and stay in the industry, or by advertising free opportunities is that really open to all? (not just people whose family can scoop them up should they go horribly wrong). By not advertising opportunities, are we shutting doors on a whole range of developments and pathways that could set people on a successful route?
Here are some ways of looking at it, and some further questions to add to the mix…
If employers can pay – they must pay. If there are expectations that someone has to be at a specific place at a specific time, the project or organisation has a budget and the show/project would not happen without them, this person should be paid. If some of the team is paid, the whole of the team should be paid.
When it comes to work experience, it may be about the value of the experience rather than the financial recompense. In these cases, the quality of the experience is paramount. Is someone assigned to mentor them and make sure they are learning and well looked after? If yes, this sounds like a legitimate work experience position. If not, it sounds exploitative in the same way as inconsistent pay arrangements.
The culture of low pay and working for free in theatre is not just a barrier to people entering the industry, but also for most of us trying to make a living within it. We do all have a responsibility to share and encourage good practice. What positive actions can we all take to address exploitation in the industry without prohibiting enthusiastic, talented artists from making work without pay if they wish to?
The Theatre Bristol website is for anyone interested in theatre in Bristol. The content is user generated and we at Theatre Bristol (the organisation) exercise only a light touch editorial control to try and make sure the content appropriate for our users. To date, we have chosen not to restrict the sort of job postings people upload unless they could be deemed obscene, abusive or unrelated to Bristol’s theatre audiences or practitioners. We offer a free, open platform for advertising these opportunities and we trust our users to be respectful of each other, so in some ways, theatrebristol.net offers a snapshot of how its users are operating.
The lion’s share of Theatre Bristol’s funding comes from the lottery through the Arts Council. However it is too simplistic to say that we are in receipt of public money therefore an unpaid job can never appear on our site. The distinction between amateur and professional is not all that easy either. Perhaps the categories we use on the site – ‘Jobs’. ‘Opportunities’ – are not clear. If people are finding postings they do not expect to see in those categories, please let us know, so we can get a better sense of people’s expectations of those categories and create different guidelines if there is call for it.
I find the statement above weak on evidence or sources and overly strong on self justification.
Taken from Theatre Bristol Strategic plan
“We are working with Bristol Old Vic to commission new live performance from Bristol
Artists. In 2009/10 we are commissioning 5 Bristol artists, 4 of whom have not made
work with Bristol Old Vic before.
We are working with Bristol City Council to commission between 3 new works for
outdoor performance to premier at Bristol Do in September 2009.”
So TB commissions work but doesn’t support paying artists – typical double standards.
If TB want to play a part in the Arts scene in Bristol then it must accept responsibility for its part in promoting unpaid work and its consequences.
The divide between amateur and professional is easy and well defined as Barbara Eifler and the Pay and Work Rights Helpline testify, where is the evidence to suggest otherwise?
If TB continue to advertised unpaid jobs then I have no doubt the Advertising Standards Authority will take a keen interest in them being labelled as ‘jobs’.