Signage vs. Art, Part 5

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts about classifying images as "signage" or "art". 

Parts one and two, three, and four are here:

http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/signage-vs-art.html
http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2013/12/signage-vs-art-part-2.html
http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2013/12/signage-vs-art-part-3.html
http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2013/12/signage-vs-art-part-4.html

This time up we have a story from minnpost.com.

http://www.minnpost.com/two-cities/2012/07/tough-mural-‘advertising’-rules-minneapolis-council-member-gary-schiff-wants-loos

In Saint Paul, Minnesotta, there is a movement to change the zoning ordinance to allow murals which display products associated with a business.  The linked article has numerous examples of murals that were painted over because they depicted products related to businesses.

From the article:

Council Member Gary Schiff wants to change the definition of an outdoor mural in the zoning code to allow the display of products that are related to the business inside the building.“You are not allowed to show any products that you sell in your mural, or your mural is deemed advertising,” said Schiff, “It’s really gotten silly, and the enforcement and destruction of murals has got to stop.”

The story also features a 15 year old mural on the side of a Whole Foods store which features fruits and vegetables, which are sold by Whole Foods.

More from the article:

The zoning inspectors in St. Paul try to find a way to allow murals to stay as painted if possible.

“We consider them artwork if we can,” said Wendy Lane, who is the city’s zoning manager. This approach, though,  doesn’t allow anything you want to paint, she explained.  If a mural pictures a brand name or a business name, it is considered advertising and falls under the rules for wall signs.

In a 2007 Central Corridor Development Strategy report (PDF), St. Paul even goes so far as to encourage eliminating “blank walls” and suggests murals or other artwork “to enliven the street and improve visual interest.”

This give me hope that there are more communities out there that are looking for reasonable mural ordinances.

Whole Foods mural in St. Paul, Minnesota features products sold in the store. minnpost.com photo by Karen Boros

Signage vs. Art, Part 4

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about classifying images as "signage" or "art". I should clarify that I in fact think ALL signage is art. But this specific topic is about the legal distinctions between sign and mural, or sign and sculpture in regards to public ordinances.

Parts one and two and three are here:

http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/signage-vs-art.html
http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2013/12/signage-vs-art-part-2.html
http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2013/12/signage-vs-art-part-3.html

Next up is a November 2013 article from enjoy.ohio.com.

http://enjoy.ohio.com/art-notes-gallery-s-mural-is-deemed-a-sign-in-chagrin-falls-1.444564

Chagrin Falls Valley Art Center was in the process of creating a mural when they were issued a cease and deists letter from village Chief Administrative Officer. The mural was interpreted as a sign. From the article:

The problem is that we’re not within the lines,” she laughed. “There are no lines [requirements] in the village ordinances for a mural. There are requirements for a sign and requirements for decorating your building.” There’s nothing for a mural.

“Either it’s a sign and it must meet certain requirements, or it’s a decoration on your building and must meet another set of requirements. Ours is neither.”

“So we had to go before council,” and since they had to rule it was one or the other, “they decided that it’s a sign,” she explained.

This is rather curious. This quote implies it was the LACK of a mural definition is what forced this work into one of two existing categories, decoration or sign. However, the article continues:

“Then they said it’s too big and that it sends a message because we’re an art gallery. They said if we had painted garden tools on the side of our building, that wouldn’t be so bad because we don’t sell garden tools,” she recalled.

So ultimately, it was judged to be a sign because it promoted the services or products provided by the business.

The mural in question:

Mural of art judged to be a sign by the village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Painting garden tools would have been ok. As long as they didn't decide to try to sell paintings containing garden tools?

Mr. McGregor wielding a garden tool.

Signage Vs Art, Part 3

This is the third in a series of blog posts about classifying images as "signage" or "art". I should clarify that I in fact think ALL signage is art. But this specific topic is about the legal distinctions between sign and mural, or sign and sculpture in regards to public ordinances.

Parts one and two are here:

http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/signage-vs-art.html
http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2013/12/signage-vs-art-part-2.html


Here is an interesting 2010 story from the Washington Post about an art conflict in Arlington Virginia:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/08/AR2010120804163.html

The owner of dog boarding facility called "Wag More Dogs" paid $4000 to have a mural containing images of dogs playing painted on the side of her building. The side of the building where the mural was painted happens to face a dog park. The dogs also happened to be very similar to the dogs that are contained in her logo.

From the story:

When county zoning administrator Melinda Artman saw the artwork, she said it violated the county's sign rules, which stipulate signs may take up no more than 60 square feet. Kim said she was given two options: cover up the frolicking dogs or add "Welcome to Shirlington Park's Community Canine Area" above the mural in four-foot high letters. A third option: leave the mural as is and face fines.

So... the mural was interpreted as a sign, and therefore was subject to the signage ordinance.

Lets not ignore the fact here that the zoning administrator (or someone in the government) came up with a creative idea! Adding text focusing the mural on the dog park was certainly a clever suggestion. I'll desist from adding my opinion as to the merit of that suggestion.

In any case, the situation continued to deteriorate. The article continues:

Last week, the Institute of Justice entered the fray, filing a civil rights lawsuit against the zoning administrator and the county arguing that Kim has been denied her Constitutional right to freedom of speech.

And this:

Houghton commissioned the mural for $4,000 in 2010, and acknowledged in court papers that it “incorporates some of the cartoon dogs in Wag More Dogs’ logo.” Her federal lawsuit seeking to keep the mural uncovered also acknowledged that the mural was intended “to create good will with the people who frequented the dog park” behind the store, “many of whom were potential Wag More Dogs customers.”

My goal in the writing of these posts is to explore both conflicts and success stories, in order to help craft the best possible policy for small towns, and to avoid disasters like this. I am currently involved in helping to develop a public art policy for the town of Ashland, Virginia.

Again from the story:

So, does the fact that Kim was hoping it would do what a sign does - inform and attract customers - make it a sign? No, she says. "When you get right down to it, what my intentions were don't make it a sign or not. . . . This is what I tell people who think it's a sign: Stand in front of the mural. If you know nothing about my business, does it tell you anything about my business? It's simply dogs playing on a wall.

I think she is dead on here. Policy can not be crafted on intention. Nor (like the Richmond Camera case) can it be crafted on the character of the artist. To say "well, you MEANT for it to be a sign, therefore it is a sign" is absurd. Also, to say "Well, it was a student art project, so it is art", is equally absurd.

Here is a photo of the art in question. Image from the Washington Post:

Mural on side of dog boarding facility. The mural faces a public dog park. Photo from Washington Post.

And here folks, is the follow up to the story from a September 2012 Washington Post article. The owner lost her legal battle, and was forced to paint over the mural.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/arlingtons-wag-more-dogs-mural-is-no-more/2012/09/25/ed180e82-074c-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_blog.html

From the Washing Post:

The judge concluded that Houghton “cannot reasonably assert that the dog mural is anything other than a business sign, erected as part of a business strategy to advertise and promote the Wag More Dogs brand.” Brinkema said allowing more signs like Wag More Dogs could create ”a virtual cacophony of competing commercial signs” that would harm traffic and aesthetics. Arlington’s ordinance “aims to avoid such a result — and rightly so,” the judge ruled.

I really don't know what is the intent of Arlington's ordinance, as I haven't read it. The real question is, what do YOU want from an ordinance in your town, and is the language crafted in such a way as to achieve those goals? As for me, I certainly want to avoid THIS from happening:

Owner of Wag More Dogs painting over $4000 mural which she commissioned. Photo from Washington Post.

Signage Vs. Art Part 2

Back in June of 2012, I created a blog post called Signage Vs. Art, exploring the boundaries and conflicts between fine art murals and signage. Here is the original post:

http://mainstreetarts.blogspot.com/2012/06/signage-vs-art.html

I am on the Ashland Main Street Design Committee in Ashland, Virginia, and we are in the midst of establishing a public art policy. To that end, I will be exploring this "art vs sign" issue in more depth.

Here is a great example of a small town, Charlottesville, VA that faced precisely this issue in 2010

http://www.readthehook.com/67661/sign-or-art-city-cites-camera-shop-new-mural

A group of students created a mural depicting cameras on the side of a camera shop. The city threatened a fine of $5000 if Richmond Camera did not take the mural down.


While community response has been positive, says Martin, the city was less than pleased with the unexpected artistic addition. According to city spokesperson Ric Barrick, that's because the store already had four signs– two more than is allowed on an entrance corridor– and did not seek permission from the planning commission before painting the mural.

So... the fine was threatened because the mural was interpreted as a sign.


It seems that the city reversed its decision:

http://www.nbc29.com/global/story.asp?s=12476819

What I find curious is the reason the decision was reversed. From the NBC29 story:

Today the city says when they made that first decision, they didn't realize that the camera mural was an art project.  Charlottesville spokesperson Ric Barrick stated they weren't aware it was an art project until they saw the reports on TV.

So... they reversed their decision because they found out it was a school art project? Does the fact that it was done by students, rather than a hired professional, change the fact that is is a depiction of cameras on the side of a camera shop?

Sign or Mural?

Halloween Sneak Peek

A little something I'm cooking up for Halloween. More to come.

"Experiential Marketing": How Really Old School Makes a Comeback

There has been a lot of buzz these days about "Experiential Marketing". Ad Age published an article on May 2nd entitled Agencies Ready for the 'Year of Experiential':Why Stunt Marketing Has Become the Next Big Thing.

What the heck, you may ask, is Experiential Marketing? It is quite literally the new "Bandwagon".

I'll start with a foray into Architectural 3D projection, and and live outdoor marketing experience Samsung created in 2010 to introduce their NEW 3D television. In Architectural 3D projection, you basically make a computer model of a real building, create computer generated video images that are mapped onto the surface of the model, and then project those images onto the actual building. It probably sounds more complicated than it is, but the results can be stunning. Here's Samsung, projecting their video onto the side of the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam:

Most recently, I came article about a promotion for Star Trek: Into the Darkness. It was coordinated with Earth Hour. The event was done in London because the movie takes place partly in futuristic London. This is cooler than cool. Note the applause at 1:38. Audience reaction is an important ingredient of Experiential Design.



So... what was that I said about a Bandwagon?

You probably first heard the phrase "Getting on the Bandwagon"  your "Introduction to Marketing" class. Basically, it is a marketing message that encourages you to do what other people are doing. Dr. Pepper most blatently used it in the "I"m a Pepper, he's a Pepper, she's a Pepper, wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?" commercial with the pre American Werewolf in London David Naughton.

This version of the commercial start out with a VERY interesting and relevant sound:

"What sound?" you might ask? Well, the sound of the Steam Calliope! Traveling steam calliope were used by circuses to announce their arrival into town. A keyboard was connected to train whistles of different pitches. I've read the sound could be heard 12 miles away. These calliopes later became "automated" similar to the way player pianos were automated.

In my introduction, I compared Experiential Marketing to the "Bandwagon". Well, the invention of the Calliope was simply applying steam technology to an already used marketing practice. Live bands would play on mobile wagons as a siren's call to see the circus.

from: http://digital.library.illinoisstate.edu/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/circus/id/4137/rv/singleitem/rec/1

So... Bandwagon leads to Calliope lead to "follow me advertising" exemplified by the David Naughton Doctor Pepper commercials. Leading to...?

How about a Doctor Pepper flash mob at the New York Stock Exchange?

Boycotting Charity Art Auctions

Here's an interesting article I read in the Huffington Post by Mat Gleason on why artists should cease and desist donating art to charity art auctions:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mat-gleason/charity-art-auctions-_b_872953.html


Mat says that:

Instead of tossing away another great artwork to a good cause, join the good cause of boycotting charity art auctions. When you join this cause ...

•You stop taking revenue out of the art world
•You stop shifting art collector dollars to the bottomless pits of recurring annual Beg-A-Thons
•You don't contextualize your art as being a synonym of pretentious panhandling
•You don't announce that your art is worth low bids
•You don't risk that your work will be publicly seen getting no bids
•You don't empower strangers to devalue your artwork
•Most importantly, you stop publicly proclaiming that you give your art away

I don't know about you, but I agree with him entirely. I've been preaching along these lines throughout this blog.

Mat makes a lot of great points. Among them:

Suppose you want to at least deduct a donation of your art to the charity, guess what? The law only allows an artist to deduct the cost of materials. Meanwhile a collector can buy your work for the minimum bid, have it appraised at its full retail value and donate it to some other good cause for that top dollar amount.

As for the merits of the infinite number of good causes out there, what is the value in giving up a painting that would sell for a thousand dollars retail in order to see it raise 50 Bucks for that cause? Pick one charity, donate generously and keep the collectors assuming that the price you ask at the gallery is the best and only price they are going to get.

I have seen many cases where work of art was auctioned off for less than the cost of materials in the piece. The artist would have been better off just giving the charity some money, instead of throwing away their art.

Thanks Mat, for letting me know I'm not alone!

Saturday's the Polar Plunge!

In a few days I'll be jumping into the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach to raise money for the Special Olympics. Low Friday, 14 degrees. High Saturday, 48 degrees. I'll be a popsicle!

Here's my page if you'd like to donate some money to a great cause!

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/ArthurBrill/2013polarplungeVA

Special Olympics Polar Plunge

On February 2nd, I will be jumping into the Atlantic Ocean at Virginia Beach to raise money for the Special Olympics. This if my first time doing that sort of thing, and I don't even want to think about how cold the water is going to be.

If you want to donate $10 (or more or less) to the Special Olympics, so that there is actually some point to me freezing my patootie off,  please visit my fundraising page:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/ArthurBrill/2013polarplungeVA

If you are brave and daring, join a team yourself and take a dive! Here is some youtube footage I found from past years:

Yeah... I'm gonna do that!

Be Sure and Vote Today!

I voted this morning about 10:30 am. My district has a little over 1300 registered voters. I was voter number 539. Not a bad turnout for the morning so far!

Working Artists and the Greater Economy

Got this in my email today:

Marion Von Osten: Be Creative! With responses from Andrew Ross +plus+ new developments in W.A.G.E. Certification

November 8, 2012 at Artists Space : Books & Talks

For this talk, originally scheduled for March 27 2012 and the third in a series of public forums contributing to W.A.G.E. and Artists Space's Research Partnership, curator, artist and writer Marion von Osten will give a presentation on the current conditions of artist labor in relation to the formation of creative and cultural industries. Von Osten has produced numerous texts and projects plotting the evolution of artists' work as a model for neo-liberal economies, including the exhibition Be Creative! The Creative Imperative (Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, 2002); the research and event based project Atelier Europa (Kunstverein Munich, 2004); and the recent text "Unpredictable Outcomes / Unpredictable Outcasts: On Recent Debates over Creativity and the Creative Industries" fromCritique of Creativity (Mayfly books, 2011).

Following her presentation, von Osten will be joined by Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at NYU. Ross's research analyzes contemporary labor, the urban economic landscape and the organization of work. His books include No-Collar: The Humane Workplace and Its Hidden Costs (Basic Books, 2002), Low Pay, High Profile: The Global Push for Fair Labor (New Press, 2004) and Nice Work If You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times (NYU Press, 2009).

Marion von Osten and Andrew Ross will be preceded by a brief presentation by W.A.G.E. summarizing recent developments in the conception of W.A.G.E. Certification, an initiative that will 'certify' nonprofit organizations and museums which follow an established best practices model, and pay artist fees meeting a minimum payment standard. The presentations and following discussion will look to locate W.A.G.E's advocacy for the payment of artist fees by non-profit art institutions, and the research into the establishment of best practice models, in a broader discourse around the economies of creative labor.

For more info, go to www.wageforwork.com

Pumpkin Witch House

Happy Halloween.

Here's a project I worked on with my friend Ronda Loyer.

Art, What is it Good for?

I frequent an online arts discussion forum, and every now an then the subject come up of the "value" of art. A poster wrote:

I want to understand the value of young artist work. There seems to be a plethora of cartoons and work influenced by video games, violence, and seemingly shallow and markedly gruesome subject matter. I am open minded. Someone please explain to me how to appreciate such expressions. Has formal training in the visual arts died? I understand commercialism, replication, pop arts and pop culture. But these doodles that fill the smaller galleries in Philadelphia are warping my artistic sensibility. I want to see the value in this but am struggling. Anyone up for a critical discussion? 

I wrote this in response:


You seem to be implying that art should be implicitly good for something other than self expression.

Certainly there are other types of art... commercial art, commissioned art, "social practice" art. But fundamentally, in my experience an artist creates because he/she "has to", not because it is "good for" anything.

In the free market, that work will either be collected, or it won't. If the art is purchased, it means that that piece of art somehow communicated with another person.

Artistic expression tends to speak in languages. If you are creating art about Harry Potter, you are speaking to Harry Potter fans. If you are creating zombie art, you are talking to a particular subset of horror genre fans.

Artists who are formally trained tend to talk to other artists. Rules of self-generated composition and techniques that are esoteric languages designed to communicate to those who are "in the club".

Commercialism, pop arts, and pop culture says "f*ck that". It is the difference between telling a joke like:

Renee Descartes was on a flight to France when the stewardess asked him, "Coffee, tea, milk, Mr. Descartes?" "I think not," he replied. And VANISHED!

And a joke like (told in a southern accent):

Why's my fanger like a lemon pie? "Cause it's got my rang on it!"

The pun has been called the lowest form of humor. But I enjoy them throughly. What is a joke good for? Do you need to be versed in existential philosophy to be able to laugh? Do you need to be formally trained in visual art to enjoy imagery?


Think of how poetry has evolved over the centuries. The complex rules surrounding sonnets, haiku, etc...

Imagine if humor had those rules. Granted, limericks have a foothold in the world of poetry and humor, thus the rigid structure. But imagine a parallel world where there were subsets and genres of humor, each with its own set of rules... a "school" of humor. Humor snobs would create comedy clubs that wound up hosting comics who told jokes that only other comics would understand.

Imagine if you had to be versed in the origin of the "Niagara Falls!" routine (Slowly I turned, Step by Step, Inch by Inch) in order to understand a whole evening of jokes. Imagine all the people pretending to "get it" as they drank wine and nibbled on crackers and salmon; the room filled with queasy laughter, and half a dozen genuine deep belly roll laughs.

That is what we have done to art.

When "Dance" isn't Dance

Here's an intriguing one from nbcnews.com.

A sharply divided court in New York says lap dances don't promote culture in a community the way ballet or other artistic endeavors do, and so shouldn't get a tax break.

The article states that a lawsuit was filed by a strip club in Albany, NY that was trying to take advantage of the tax examption for "dramatic or musical arts performances".

The fascinating thing to me isn't that the lawsuit was denied. It is that the state's top court was split 4 to 3.

The Politics of Gaming

Back in April, I wrote a post about my experience with Role Playing Games. Seems that the irrational "Jack Chick" days of gaming are not yet over.

Jack Chick's take on Dungeons and Dragons

I just read an article "Warcraft-Playing Candidate Shamed by Republicans".  Democratic candidate Colleen Lachowicz enjoys playing World of Warcraft, and online fantasy role playing game.

If she enjoyed playing shuffleboard and was ridiculed for that, I imagine the AARP would be up in arms. Time for gamers to become a political force, I think.

Richmond, Virginia First Fridays

I went into Richmond for First Fridays this past... um... Friday. The event has grown a lot since I went a few years ago, and has changed tremendously over the last 10 years.

Sidewalk lights in front of 1708 Gallery

Pretty, and safe to walk on too!

I went down specifically to see a piece by one of my favorite artists, Lynette Shelley. Lynette emailed me to let me know she would have a piece on display at Art 6 Gallery, and I had to make it a point to go see it. I've been a fan of Lynette's for years, but this is the first piece I got to see in person.

Art 6 Gallery. 6 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA

The gallery was pretty packed. There was not only artwork, but a performance by the Latin Ballet of Virginia.

Latin Ballet of Virginia performs on landing at top of stairs at Art 6 Gallery

As it turns out, the performance was being video taped. And where did the intrepid camera man decide to set up? Right in front of Lynette's piece!

My view blocked by a videographer, capturing the Latin Ballet of Virginia performance!

The videographer and the DJ who had been hired for the evening both loved Lynette's piece. The DJ even had had the time to view her work online that morning, and was a big fan. The videographer graciously moved his camera for me.

Bird of Truth, 16"x20"

Afterwards, my wife and I stopped by Gallery 5 to take in a bit of the fire show:

Poi spinning has become popular in Richmond over the past several years

Music, spinning, and random fireball bursts

There was a side alley that had a number of artist vendor booths. Lantern making seemed to be a hit of the evening.

Vegan Cupcakes and Tacos were on the Menu

And I finally got to see some of the murals that were done during the G40 Art Summit in April.

LOST, Teleportation, Time Travel, and Tenerife

The television show LOST was one of my favorites for six years. I spend a lot of time posting my thought about the show online under the screen name Desmondisthekey. I have to admit, I spent a lot more time thinking about the show than I did watching it, and had a blast doing it. Here's a peek into just how far "down the rabbit hole" I fell:

The Island is a Brane: Parallel Dimensions


Well, today I was reading an article about teleportation using quantum entanglement. It seems that scientists have been able to instantly teleport information over a distance of 89 miles. It is all very complex and fascinating stuff.

Here's a bit of a fun LOST link (besides the fact that it involves quantum entanglement, teleportation, and the possibility of Time Travel. The teleportation experiment involved the Canary Island of Tenerife. What is the relevance of that you might ask?

The character Richard Alpert originated from Tenerife:

The Obama Campaign hops on the "Great opportunity for exposure!" Bandwagon

The local Obama campaign office posted this on craigslist:

The East Henrico OFA office is in need of a local artist willing to come and paint some of our campaign office walls for the election. 
We have the supplies and permission to paint some of our blank walls and need someone talented and willing to come help out the OFA team and get President Obama re-elected. This is a great opportunity for an artist to gain exposure as many people are going to be coming into the office and seeing their work between now and the election. 
If you or someone you know would be right for this please contact us! Our Office is located at 4719 Nine Mile Rd in the Basement of the McEachin & Gee Law Firm. Please email or call us at 937-4725.  

Here is my response to them:

I am writing to you in response to your posting on craiglist seeking an artist for the campaign office.

I am an Obama supporter, voted for him in the first election, and intend to vote for him again, without hesitation.

However, I am terribly disappointed in your post. The Obama campaign has raised $690 million dollars as of August according to the NY Times. That money is being spent on high end advertising firms, network advertising time, youtube ads, Hulu ads, and just about every other place it is possible to squeeze and ad before a viewer.

Here is an opportunity to hire someone locally... a member of the 47%, to create original artwork for your campaign office. The good will generated in the artist community in Richmond would go a long way to generating support. Instead, you are repeating the tired phrase of "great opportunity for exposure". Here's a newsflash... the entire world is selling the same thing you are... opportunity for exposure. Artists are dying of exposure.

When considering commissioning an artist, one should use a variation on Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative; assume everyone else is asking for the same thing you are asking for. An artist who is exposed as "working for free" will certainly generate more opportunities... to work for free. If this is the economy the Obama administration is promoting, perhaps my unquestioning vote needs to be reviewed.

Paying for Internships

Well, it has obviously been a while since I posted here. After daily blogging for almost three months, I decided to take a bit of a breather. I'm hoping to settle down into a weekly posting schedule.

(Side thought... if I saved up all my posts, and scheduled them to automatically post once a week, I would have had almost two years of posts!)

Ok, now that I've justified my slacking off, I thought I would talk about internships. I've posted before about my frustration with how arts organizations use interns. For-profit businesses have jumped on the bandwagon as well, trying to get away with using low or non paid interns instead of actually hiring bona-fide employees.

Well, there's a new wrinkle in the formula. Businesses actually CHARGING folks for the "privilege" of interning.

I first came across this in an arts discussion forum I participate in. Someone was hawking their gallery, and proudly announcing that opportunities were limited for people to pay for internships! Apparently, this is not limited to the arts. Here's an article from the Washington Post from 2010,

More would-be interns paying thousands to land a coveted spot

The article reads:

The Washington Center is the city's largest program, and for the past three years it has placed about 1,500 interns annually, up from about 1,300 in 2007. It charges nearly $9,000 for a summer, including housing.

and:

The National Internship Program, formerly the Washington Internship Program. It charges an enrollment fee of $3,400 without housing and has seen its numbers increase from 166 students last year to an expected 250 to 300 this year. The for-profit company has doubled its staff in that time and is beginning to expand into other major cities.
"There has never been a harder time to get hired," said chief executive Lev Bayer, whose mother started the company nearly 30 years ago. "There is such a need for internships. We have more students than we can ever deal with."

From the U.S. Dept of Labor 

The following six criteria must be applied when making this determination: 

The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment; 

The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern; 

The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff; 

The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded; 

The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; 

The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

On the flip side, people art starting to wake up. This from the New York Times:

A former unpaid intern for the fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, accusing its parent company, the Hearst Corporation, of violating federal and state wage and hour laws by not paying her even though she often worked there full time.

and:

The lawsuit against Hearst states, “Employers’ failure to compensate interns for their work, and the prevalence of the practice nationwide, curtails opportunities for employment, fosters class divisions between those who can afford to work for no wage and those who cannot, and indirectly contributes to rising unemployment.

“Unpaid interns are becoming the modern-day equivalent of entry-level employees, except that employers are not paying them for the many hours they work,” said Adam Klein, one of the lawyers for Ms. Wang. “The practice of classifying employees as ‘interns’ to avoid paying wages runs afoul of federal and state wage and hour laws.”

and:

Last September, Mr. Klein’s Manhattan-based law firm, Outten & Golden, filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight Pictures, accusing it of violating wage laws by using unpaid interns to work on “Black Swan” and other films. Fox Searchlight has denied any wrongdoing.

It is about time. This foolishness of people working at unpaid interns so companies can avoid hiring actual employees has to end!

Ah... and  the latest update. From July 23, 2012 topclassactions.com:

A federal judge has conditionally certified a class action lawsuit covering unpaid Hearst Corp. interns who worked at 19 of the company’s magazines, including Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, since February 2009.

More Chalk Crime Unleashed

I know I've been away from this blog for a while, but I had to report this one.  The fair city of Richmond, Virginia has made national news for the horrendous crime of a child drawing on rocks with chalk:

Oh, the humanity.