News / Leigh Woods
National Trust pull unpaid intern position
The National Trust has withdrawn an unpaid six-month intern position, working for a project created by Bristol artist Luke Jerram.
The trust was criticised when it promoted the position at Leigh Woods on Twitter, and Jerram tweeted that it “was wrong”.
Sean Beynon, Labour Councillor for Southville, tweeted: “This sounds like a job. Why aren’t you paying someone to do it?”
The unpaid position, as a Voluntary Learning and Arts Internship, was advertised as working with the National Trust on Jerram’s new artwork Withdrawn – a flotilla of abandoned fishing boats which will be installed in Leigh Woods for an artwork forming part of Bristol’s year as European Green Capital.
The National Trust apologised for what they called a mistake and told Bristol24/7 they were withdrawing the post.
In a statement, the charity said: “The conditions of the project funding do not allow internships and it was a mistake to have included work on this project as part of the role for the intern.”
However, the National Trust said it still believed “voluntary internships provide a great opportunity” and said it ensured that “all the opportunities we provide are as accessible, fair, well-managed and as meaningful as we can make them for participants.”
It also said “a good number” of past interns in the Bristol area “have found employment with us”.
However, Sam Thompson, director of civic and cultural engagement at UWE, said unpaid internships in the arts, culture and media industries were a “really big issue” and help “replicate social, cultural and educational inequalities”.
She said she wants to get to “a point where offering unpaid internships becomes an unacceptable practice”.
“This is an interesting case, where the issue has been brought to the artist’s attention and he’s said ‘no, this isn’t ok’.
Thompson added that Bristol is doing a huge amount of work to allow young people from all backgrounds to get experience in the creative industries.
“Although it might initially have been embarrassing for the National Trust, it’s helpful that these issues have been raised and that Luke Jerram has been so emphatic in his support for fair access.
“Young people should consider the Creative Employment programme – a scheme run by the Bristol’s arts and cultural organisations which has a number of paid intern positions at organisations across the city.”
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