Unpaid positions

Re: Unpaid Internships and Fellowships

Years ago an advertisement appeared in the Conservation DistList for
an unpaid fellowship at a public art gallery in the U.S. I posted a
comment then that I felt such arrangements were unprofessional and
degrading and I badly offended a valued colleague, for which I have
always been sorry. While disappointed to see another offer of an
unpaid position I will try this time to temper my language to avoid
offence while still expressing my deep concern.

I believe most conservators are paid little enough given long
training and the specialised and exacting nature of their work and
compared with other professionals. More to the point for me, I came
to the profession when it had previously been a career for people
who could afford long academic study followed by an equally long
period of unpaid or lowly paid work to establish themselves. It was
largely a calling for those of independent means. The profession
grew enormously in the 1960s and 70s at least partly because the
late Sheldon and Caroline Keck worked so hard to find funding for
scholarships for the training courses,internships and post graduate
positions and this opened the profession to less well off people. I
benefited enormously from this and later, as a teacher and
administrator, I felt I owed it to the Kecks and others to find
similar support for students and new graduates.

I was pressured to use unpaid people in the name of great need and
lack of funding but was able to avoid doing so until I was fortunate
enough to have a Director who took little convincing that we could
do much needed work on the collections by offering supervised
experience for talented recent graduates while contributing
significantly to the general pool of expertise and helping provide
for our succession planning. He courageously diverted considerable
acquisition funding towards four development conservator positions
for up to three years at a time which each paid a living wage. He
reasoned there was little point in acquiring things you couldn't
care for and that the storerooms were full of items in too poor
condition to display. Each development conservator was formally
reviewed quarterly and when looking for subsequent jobs had an
impressive and greatly detailed portfolio. The reports went to the
Director as well as the funding body. This arrangement survived two
succeeding Directors until superseded by a smaller privately funded
programme. Over 40 young conservators so far have benefitted and
several returned to us in permanent positions. It is hard work and
one success often leads to another.

We need to make a case about building expertise sustainably within
our institutions over a long period of time and that our work is
mission critical. I don't think free work is much valued in the long
run and worry unpaid positions set uncomfortable precedents and is a
slippery slope. I well understand the pressure to provide expert
care for needy collections in times of scarce funding, but consider
what message an unpaid position for a trained professional sends-
for that person, for their colleagues, for the administrators and
senior managers whose names attach to the idea, for the branding of
the institution, and for prospective students in our profession. I
believe unpaid positions are a step backwards in this profession.

Tom Dixon
Melbourne Australia


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:26
                 Distributed: Sunday, November 18, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-26-003
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