BECTU launches investigation into YMBBT Internships

I have been doing some volunteering for YMBBT this season. Had not been involved with them before, but went once to see what it was all about and then found it so interesting that I went back 6 or 7 times over the last weeks, to be involved in different scenes.

I am not involved in theatre normally in any way (except as an audience member of course) but I have done a good deal of volunteering for various organisations and events over the years. At the time I got involved with YMBBT I read up on any negative publicity they had received and was careful to keep a weather eye open for any exploitation, with the intention of dropping out if I found any. Never found any, and never dropped out.

Whenever I was there, I chatted to fellow volunteers, and often asked them about their 'day jobs' as I was fascinated to see where they managed to find such a diverse group of people (age, nationality, ethnicity, you name it),many of whom returned show after show. Not a single person I personally spoke with was professionally involved in theatre or was attending drama school. I fully expected the place to be full of young theatrical students, but couldn't find any. There were probably some there, but I never met any. Many of the volunteers had either been involved in past productions or were people who had applied for tickets but were not successful, or indeed were past audience members who had been so overwhelmed by the experience that they had decided to volunteer in order to continue to be involved. Others were professional people, academics, students,retirees, all sorts.

I know that they have a short project beginning now, to make an archive of this past show, with plans etc. I am not involved with this but I was told that it was being run by a very experienced person, so I imagine that anyone who gets involved will learn from being involved in this project. All the sets have now been removed, so there is no manual labour to be done in terms of the sets as far as I know. I cannot comment on these internships, as I have no knowledge of them, but I believe that they only have the building for another 3 months, so it is not an ongoing job in any way. I too, totally dislike the trend of asking for unpaid workers in industries that can well afford to pay interns, so if they are genuinely doing this then I certainly do not support this. I simply have no factual information on this, so cannot really comment until I know more.

My experience of YMBBT was that it had a profound positive effect on many of the audience members and gave a lot to the volunteers also. Personally, I found it fascinating from a psychological viewpoint, why people were involved, how it created the effect on participants etc etc. In fact I was speaking with a psychologist friend about it only yesterday. For me, theatre is partly enjoyment, partly those transcendent moments that you chase, and only find occasionally. There is something of that transcendence to be found in YMBBT I think, and that is what kept me going back.

On a more mundane note, I do agree about the Arts Council grant. I too would question whether that is money best spent on an organisation that has limited (not cheap) tickets, but in a way it might be possible to argue that the large community of volunteers it created also benefitted from this funding. Having been involved I still find that I am on the fence about some aspects of the whole experience, but for me (having seen a lot of charitable money badly spent in other organisations- don't get me onto that subject!) I found that the positives outweighed the negatives in this case. I might change my mind once I am better informed as to the facts, but who knows?

I experienced the show as a 'passenger' and then volunteered a couple of times and loved it. I'm not an actor (far from it) but it was exhilarating to be in the scenes, and fantastic to meet such an enthusiastic bunch of people, who were genuinely doing it for fun and not to gain any kind of work experience, as far as I could tell.

But yes, I can see how the office type internships could be different.

The sad thing about this is that it's unlikely YMBBT will happen again in its current form. They have had so much pressure from things like this that it seems unlikely the organisers would be up for doing it again, unless they can find a way to enhance the commercial aspect to be able to pay everyone and avoid these campaigns. Which would mean excessive ticket prices and the event becoming elitist - I don't think this is what they want. So, sadly, I fear we've seen the last of it.

Please

A civil war has a profound effect on people

Not YMBBT

Get a grip

I agree. For one thing, Richard Fleeshman's t-shirt in 'Urinetown' had an incredibly profound effect on me.

Oh my.

Probably, but did you SEE Richard Fleeshman in Urinetown? *fans self*

Equally without in Ghost.

I hate the idea of unpaid internships that require real boring work and agree it gets the richest the relevant experience or rather the same experience but meets the right people compared with the poorer person doing temp admin in a non arts office.

You cannot know what has a profound effect on anyone other than perhaps yourself. Your posts here can have a profound effect - I believe they are the basis for a whole religion on an island in Micronesia.

Richard Fleeshman gave man a lump too I'm sure...sorry couldn't resist.


And people who volunteered at the event-I'm sure it was a utterly fantastic and profound experience, and one I may well have also done had I been in the right place at the right time. I've said it several times already but I'll say it again, I'm not knocking the involvement of volunteers in that (though I do know some performers who are angry about lack of pay, but that's not my debate)

The issue for me is the internships they are offering which are part of a wider problem of expecting young people (and not so young people, I'm 32 and currently being offered lots of 'opportunities' for full time unpaid work for 'exposure' or 'CV building' for which I'd have to have another job in order to pay for doing that job. YMBBT are far from alone in this but I'm glad it's being highlighted.

Not for profit companies and charities rely on volunteers however private companies are replying on this kind of 'volunteer' (again talking about the office work not events) to turn a profit. And that frustrates me.

Indeed! exactly that.

Interestingly in the email list I talked about, someone in Edinburgh mentioned Fringe venues approaching their performing arts students for summer internships-obviously lots of opportunity there. And this lecturer said he now refuses to share things that don't contain some kind of payment to students-even if it's minimal profit share, and that they still get more than enough opportunities for their students. Obviously spoiled for choice in Edinburgh over the summer but if even the smallest companies can give their student staff some kind of financial remuneration then YMBBT can give their office monkeys some as well!

You know what I say that as someone who has worked really hard as a self-proclaimed 'office monkey' myself, I mean no disrespect by it-I simply mean the kind of positions that such internships usually cover.

I can see that I'm fighting a losing battle here, personally as someone who has many years experience in a diverse range of roles, that I am still being offered unpaid internships as a 'way in' to companies and as a serious career step infuriates me.

And as a teacher/lecturer it frustrates me that the only way current and former students get a 'start' is if they can afford to work for nothing.

I think it's exploitation, but I can see I will not penetrate the holy organisation here so I give up.

Self-proclaimed office monkey signing in over here too.

I get that not all interns are spoiled rich kids. I get that unpaid internships can provide vast and rich experience. I get we're living in an imperfect world and the arts are unfairly funded. That doesn't mean I'm going to roll over and say "fine, it's cool to not pay your interns". I understand why paying interns isn't as automatically easy as all that, but that doesn't make it any less wrong.

Indeed Monkey!

It's also the fact that the lack of opportunities/economic situation means that old more 'experienced' and 'qualified' people are unable to get jobs at a level appropriate to their career stage and therefore are either taking or stuck in jobs that were previously 'entry level' positions.

So what was 'entry level, paid just enough to get by' which we all expected (back in the day!) has now become 'unpaid please get another job to support your job (or rely on Mum and Dad'