Budgeting and money advice for artists
Before investing lots of time in researching funding and finance options, work out how much – and what kind – of money you need. Planning your budget We all need different levels of income…
Bartering and exchange
Bartering involves the exchange of goods and services without using money. It’s the earliest form of trade. Bartering has the advantage that you don’t need any money to start to make things happen. What you do need…
Spend less
The less money you spend, the less you’ll need to earn or raise. This will give more time to your practice. How can artists save money? Before you think about raising your income, work out if you can…
Gallery commission
When you sell work through a gallery, they will often take a percentage of the sale. This is called a gallery commission. The gallery takes this money to help pay for their business costs. When you enter into…
In what circumstances can I sublet or share my studio space?
You must check that your lease permits either subletting (temporarily or permanently leaving your studio and renting it to someone else) or sharing before agreeing this with someone else.…
Tracing Work
Listen to me baby Wherever you may be I’m beggin’ over the radio Please come back to me – I’ve got a mind To move on down the line. * Many artists and galleries find great difficulty in…
‘She’s nobody’s child; the law can’t touch her at all’
It’s dip. Show time again: a time for looking back over the past years work and exhibiting it for public view; a time also for looking forward to taking the…
The Length of Copyright
The Duration of Copyright and Rights in Performance Regulations 1995 implement EU Council Directive No 93/98/EEC and the European Economic Area 1993, which harmonise protection of copyright and certain related rights. In effect, they extend the…
National Studios Forum
The ‘Creating Places’ conference held at Tate Modern in July 2003 explored the role of studio workspace provision for artists in the UK (reported in this column AM269). It presented a comprehensive range of sector specific skills…
Management of Creativity
There once was a man who said God Must think it exceedingly odd If He Finds that this tree Continues to be When there’s no one around in the Quad (Mgr Ronald Knox) Train journeys can be…
Dire Straits – outside the gallery
No lies he wouldn’t compromise No junk no bits of string And all the lies we subsidise That just don’t mean a thing I’ve got to say he passed away in obscurity And now…
Can I sell my copyright?
Copyright can only be ‘assigned’ (sold or given away) by the execution of a written document signed by the copyright owner. It is not advisable, however, to assign or otherwise dispose of your copyright over…
Appropriation Art and Fair Uses
‘Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.’ So wrote TS Eliot in The Sacred Wood in 1920. His epigram was probably adapted from Igor Stravinsky’s comment that ‘a good composer does not imitate; he steals’, as…
VAT minus Zero – no limit
VAT is a pain in the arts. My two recent columns on the subject – Vexing Art Toll? (AM No 24) and VAT Revisited (AM No 29) – have aroused so much interest and…
Questions of Attribution
Richard Hamilton took part in a discussion, ‘The Legacy of Duchamp’, at Tate Britain in early May 2003. This pointed up many interesting reflections on contemporary visual practice, including the tracing of direct links between the works…
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…
Appropriation of Media
In the endless search for new ideas and forms of expression, artists are increasingly embracing the use of contemporary technologies: the internet, computer hardware and software, film, video, digital cameras and sound recordings. Such new ways of…
Censorship
Time, place, social values and mores are the themes of these pieces, as they explore specific incidents where artworks have been the subject of threatened or actual 'censorship' These works, and/or their authors or curators were subjected to legal…