What should I know about copyright as a freelance artist/educator who facilitates workshops?
As a freelance artist/educator who develops and facilitates workshops and projects for institutions, what should I know about copyright and how can I protect my copyright and…
The Code of Art
The idea of art industry self regulation is accepted by an increasingly wide range of art market professionals and their expert advisers, but there is no agreement amongst them on best ways and means of successfully…
Art Industry Self-Regulation
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland during January 2015, leading world economist Nouriel Roubini publicly attacked the global art industry for being secretive and opaque, and called for its regulation. Roubini’s remarks were based on…
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
‘There are no votes in the arts. Nobody’s interested.’ This was the instinctive response of re election obsessed Jim Hacker when bridling at Sir Humphrey’s insistence that his PM should speak at a…
Fair Use
The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation recently announced a new Fair Use policy to make images of the artist’s work more accessible to museums, scholars, artists and the public (Artnotes AM395). This enlightened and innovative approach represents the first artist’s…
Artists’ studios
For many artist studios are an important part of working life. This article considers the role of the studio in an artists career. Studios and the organisations that run them come in different shapes and sizes. There is…
Artists’ right to unemployment benefit
At a time of mass unemployment and world wide recession, how does the unemployed artist fare in the welfare state? Will unemployment or supplementary benefits be paid? Does the state have a duty to meet…
Further information
Arts Council England has published a Model Constitution for Unincorporated Associations and Model memorandum and Articles of Association for charitable arts organisations. Both are available online free of charge. If you are looking for existing studio groups, you…
Dire Straits: in the gallery
Although great strength and power can be drawn from legal information and knowledge, the processes of applying and using the law are often regarded as too cumbersome, complex and costly to be of any real…
Sculpture Competitions
Some interesting and important issues arise around the enduringly popular artists’ competition format. Many sculpture ‘competitions’ contain this word in their title, but some are promoted as ‘prizes’ or ‘awards’ or ‘contests’. What exactly has an artist won…
Public Art and the Law
Architects’ collaboration with artists and craftworkers has been the subject of serious debate and some activity over the past five years. The ‘art and architecture’ movement in the U.K. started with the 1982 ICA Conference,…
Doing a Deal: Part 1
Selling work is the primary source of income for most commercially successful artists, and is the strongest aspiration of most of those for whom a market place is not established. It is no surprise that…
Ballad of a Widening Wedge
Just because an agreement is in writing, freely signed by the parties, does not necessarily mean its words alone will bind them at law, in whole, in part, or at all. THE FIRST CASE Conservation…
Estates
Three apparently unlinked events were reported in the media during the past month. On closer examination they reveal an interesting common thread: the death on March 4, 2003, of Francis Bacon’s sole beneficiary; recent reports from Romania of further…
Orphan Works 2
On 29 October 2014 the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Licensing of Orphan Works) Regulations 2014 came into force to create a new UK scheme for licensing use of orphan works of all creative artists. Orphan artworks…
Artist’s Resale Right: Ten Years After
‘It is a well known melancholy truth that the tribe of auctioneers, connoisseurs, and picture dealers have monopolised the trade of pictures, and made it a matter of ridicule to purchase any modern production,…
What does creating an Inventory or Catalogue Raisonné involve?
The inventory should relate to all works of art, copyright (the artist should be aware that unless there is an agreement to the contrary, he/she will have retained copyright ownership in…
VAT for artists
Value Added Tax (VAT) is a tax charged through a business on their products and services. You only need to register to collect VAT if your income is over a certain amount. Most artists will not need…