Gateway to Precarization: A Study of the Work Experience of Young Volunteers and Interns at the Biennale Jogja Equator Arts Festival

Abstract

This study offers an investigation into the dynamics of cultural labor, focusing specifically on the engagement of volunteers and interns in art festivals. Despite their appeal as expressions of artistic richness, art festivals conceal fundamental challenges related to volunteer labor, which blur the lines between altruism and exploitation, and between unpaid volunteerism and paid labor. This research employs ethnographic methods, with data collected through direct observation, interviews, and literature review targeting interns and volunteers involved in art festival activities, specifically using the Biennale Jogja Equator as the primary case study. The findings reveal that while volunteers gain invaluable firsthand experience and develop critical skills within the creative sector, they also face systemic challenges inherent in the art festival production ecosystem. On one hand, volunteers accumulate cultural and social capital, such as skill acquisition and networking opportunities; on the other hand, questions remain about how to translate this capital into economic capital or tangible benefits. This condition makes volunteer work and internship programs as gateways to deeper precarization.