Unpaid graduate internships

Larry Shutts' recent post "Unpaid graduate internships"--just like
the anonymous post "Salaries" from this Spring (Conservation
DistList Instance: 16:60 Thursday, April 10, 2003)--speaks so
directly to the grim financial reality of graduate students in
Conservation that I can't help but respond. Though these two posts
are fairly clear in the topics they deal with, they also speak about
the more overarching difficulties of getting an education in the
field of conservation and then trying to find a full-time, permanent
job.

As a graduate intern in the U.S., I've discussed this financial
reality with many of my fellow students. And, almost to a one, I've
encountered the same response: the situation often appears so bleak
that questions eventually arise about staying in the field. This, it
seems to me, is quite natural. Why would anyone want to continue on
in a field when jobs are frighteningly scarce and often require
frequent relocation, starting salaries are very modest, and workers
are on occasion obligated to take on significant personal debt just
to work in an institution to gain experience?

Of course, there are many excellent reasons to work in this field.
And I can't think of a person who has left for financial reasons
alone.

Like Mr. Shutts, I am fortunate to be in a position where I receive
additional funding from the institution where I am completing my
graduate internship. The Indianapolis Museum of Art's commitment to
provide addition funds to the stipend I receive from my school is a
demonstration of an institution committed to helping me complete my
education. This is also a demonstration of an institution devoted to
the work of conservation education. The amount of money provided,
though modest, turns out to be the difference between my having to
take on significantly more student loans, and being able to scrape
by. (Of course, I also have the benefit of living in a city where
the cost of living is not debilitating to such a modest salary.)

In the current GCI Newsletter Kathleen Dardes discusses these and
other issues with three directors of academic programs. However, the
question I am most concerned about is the current state of the
field. Too often graduate students are struggling mightily just to
make it in this field. In the face of an already daunting struggle
of completing our rigorous training, being confronted with listings
for unpaid, or barely paid, positions at the graduate level is
enough to make one lose sleep.

What is the current state of the field? Are the graduate programs
educating too many students for too few positions? Are students
currently considering graduate school in conservation aware of the
current state of the field?

I really can't summarize my final question any better than was
already done anonymously in the "Salaries" thread:

   "Conservators complain that we are not taken seriously at our
    institutions, and not valued enough by peers in other
    departments, but are young professionals valued in the field by
    their own mentors? Of course funding in many arts institutions
    is extremely tight, but I think the onus is upon established
    conservators to demand at least a decent living wage for those
    of us trying to make it in this field."

I've always been impressed by the Cons DistList's ability to
generate immediate and thought provoking response from the field,
and to operate as a sort of bulletin board for conservation
information. My hope is that the questions raised by Mr. Shutts, the
anonymous poster, and all those that reply, and have replied, will
be considered in the very near future by the professional
associations in this field. This profession needs to have the means
to better understand and evaluate its professional opportunities. In
this light, Mr. Shutts' questioning of AIC's language protecting the
'exploitation' of educational situation becomes quite poignant.

Richard McCoy
Graduate Intern in Objects Conservation
Indianapolis Museum of Art


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:49
                  Distributed: Friday, January 9, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-49-001
                                  ***