"Critics say employers are exploiting the slow economy by not hiring paid workers." - A. Semuels, Los Angeles Times, "Unpaid internships gain popularity among the jobless", March 14, 2011
"Current law, as established by the Fair Labor Standards Act and Department of Labor regulatory guidelines, has a six-part test to determine whether employers are legally required to pay interns, including that the intern does not displace regular employees, that the employer derives no immediate advantage, and that the intern is not entitled to a job at the completion of the internship. If all six parts are not met, the intern must be paid for his or her work. Most internships at for-profit firms would not pass the test." - R. Eisenbrey, K. Edwards, Spotlight on Poverty, "Internships: Gateway to Opportunity, or Obstacle?", June 28, 2010
"Employment experts say a growing number of young people, hundreds of thousands of them, do unpaid internships each year as they seek to get a foot in the door and gain work experience. But some interns and labor advocates assert that many employers are taking advantage of these interns — and violating Labor Department rules in the process — by using the interns essentially to do the jobs of other workers and not providing a bona fide educational experience." S. Greenhouse, NY Times, "Former Intern Sues Hearst Over Unpaid Work and Hopes to Create a Class Action", Feb 1, 2012
"What kind of chance do theater internships truly provide? What myths run rampant throughout our theatrical community about the value and purpose of internships?" A. Feinberg, "Confessions of a Serial Intern", December 21, 2011
For the past several years, the mainstream media and blog authors alike have been taking a negative view of unpaid internships. Criticism has gone so far as to accuse employers of violating Department of Labor laws, exploiting workers, and discriminating against those who cannot afford to work for free.
SMNetwork.org wants to find out the truth of the matter as it pertains to stage managers in the performing arts. Starting February 14 2012, we will be offering an ongoing objective survey of former stage management interns from the US. Former stage management interns are welcome to contribute reviews of their experiences to our staff-patrolled database. Employers will be able to see how their programs measure up against others in the country. Prospective interns will find an objective comparison between employers to assist them in finding the best fit for their skills and training needs.
We invite you to browse and contribute to the survey at
http://smnetwork.org/interns. (Members, you can also get there by clicking "Internships" in the top right corner of your screen.) The database is small right now as we're just starting out. If you have done a stage management internship at any point you are welcome to submit a review. Internships that ended more than 5 years ago are not weighted as heavily but are certainly welcome for our purposes.
This has been in planning for several years now, and under construction since December 24. It's another one of my scratch-coded projects, so many thanks to all the beta testers who helped out with getting this ready to go:
RuthNY, bex, ScooterSm, Aerial, Kristine, LCSM, nick_tochelli, LisaS, Samazon, cserendipity and the moderator team!
