It’s commonly said that, “One has to pay one’s dues before one pays one’s debts.” But is it fair if the strains of paying one’s dues surpass one’s needs?
Intern is a new independent print magazine launched by Manchester-based Alec Dudson that speaks of the dangers and raises debate on the intern culture in creative industries.
After his 12-month internship stints across the globe, in Milan, London and Athens, where he worked unpaid and felt its toll, Dudson decided to put together the magazine to empower and benefit unpaid workers.
“I was no closer to a paid job in the industry as when I had set out all those months ago,” he wrote. “I began considering this concept of a ‘career’ and had seen how the creative industries are full of those for whom a career means freelancing and can be littered with uncertainty.”
“It struck me that there were ways in which people like me could be helped on their quest to get established in their field of expertise,” he added.
His magazine would expose interns’ work for them to be noticed, and discuss the culture of internships across the creative industries for readers to get an insight.
Dudson also practices what he preaches, and makes a stand for what he does not agree with: he pays every contributor involved in the magazine.
Though he admits that unpaid positions can sometimes be beneficial—“unpaid positions can, in circumstances that satisfy the intern’s needs, be useful experiences for those trying to break into the industry,” he told Dezeen —this is not always the case.
“The danger across all industries is that a culture is fostered whereby young talents think nothing of unpaid work and puts up with arrangements that are far from beneficial,” he told Dezeen.
For those who do not support unpaid internships, but would like to support Intern mag, you can do so on Kickstarter.
[via Dezeen and Kickstarter]