HALIFAX – Emerging artists can sometimes find themselves in tricky legal situations since many often do not have the background to deal with contracts, copyright laws and other legal issues.
But a Nova Scotia non-profit organization is aiming to fix that by working with the artists to help them protect their creations while also making a livelihood.
The Artists’ Legal Information Society, ALIS, started three years ago as a student organization at the Dalhousie Law School. It has since become a non-profit organization.
It was formed because many artists simply can’t afford to hire lawyers to help them with legal paperwork and is meant to be a safeguard for artists who may not have anywhere else to turn to for legal advice.
Visual Arts Nova Scotia, VANS, is just one of the many organizations that turns to ALIS, which is entirely run by volunteers.
There are approximately 500 members in VANS, who range from painters to sculptors to printmakers.
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VANS Executive Director Briony Carros says while she does not think people are trying to take advantage of artists, she believes that artists’ enthusiasm in having their work shown can sometimes hurt them.
Carros says legal paperwork sometimes is not clear about when artists will be paid for their work, how much they will be paid or what the usage of their artwork will be.
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“They’re getting contracts they don’t understand. They’re signing things they don’t know what they’re signing. They don’t understand the full terms and that leads to problems down the road,” said lawyer Noemi Westergard with ALIS.
ALIS connects artists with lawyers in the HRM as well as across the province who provide free, 30-minute consultations.
“Half the battle is knowing what you’re giving away when you sign a contract, what you’re giving away when you’re selling a print to a gallery or, as a musician, signing your first deal with your first record label,” said lawyer Kelsey McLaren, who also volunteers with ALIS.
Westergard says the organization aims to clarify things such as how much artists can copy from other artists, how much inspiration they can take from another artists’ work, how much can they distribute, where they can sell their paintings and what happens at customs when an artist is coming back from an art show.
The lawyers hope their free advice means more artists can protect their work.
“Being an artist really is being an entrepreneur,” McLaren said. “Often artists don’t see themselves that way until they see success and have money coming in but they have to make sure they protect their rights so they can enjoy that success when it comes.”
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