The Artist’s Contract

ABOUT

Susan Schwartz and Virginia Broersma are the artists spearheading this project to provide free, artist-centric contracts to artists so we can advocate for better business practices within the art world.

This project began during the pandemic in the spring of 2020. Susan and Virginia began researching the possibility of creating a contract that could ultimately help artists protect their rights and future financial interests in their work. We hosted community conversations to hear directly from artists about what challenges they face and the rights they are having difficulty protecting. Out of these conversations, it was clear that it was time to create a new sales contract for today’s realities. The 1971 Artist’s Reserved Rights Transfer and Sale Agreement became a model and guide to learn about how artists have struggled to secure their rights over the past 50 years.

Now - 50 years after the Artist’s Contract was written - we decided to draft a new sales contract with the input of the artist community and make it free and available for any artist to use. With the completion of this contract called the FARE (Fair Artists’ Reserved Equity) Contract, we have recognized that we can - and want to - create a hub for any type of contract a visual artist may need to protect their rights, their work, and to establish better business practices within the art world.

Interview with Virginia Broersma of The Artist’s Contract

Questions by Maake founder and editor Emily Burns

Hi Virginia! Thanks for much for talking to us!

I recently found out about your project, The Artist's Contract, and am excited to learn more about what you do. Can you tell us a bit about the project and its mission? Who is involved?

I'd love to! The Artist’s Contract is an artist-run project that offers free contracts for visual artists and further supports artists through solidarity and information sharing. It is part of a larger movement to establish fairness and equity through professional practices within the art world. It was begun by me (artist Virginia Broersma) and attorney Susan Schwartz. It has expanded to include artist contributors, attorneys, law students, and organizations such as the Contemporary Art League in Los Angeles. 

Our website, artistscontract.com, houses free contract templates such as our first agreement: The Fair Artists' Reserved Equity (FARE) Contract. This sales contract includes important terms such as resale royalties, the prevention of selling the work for a period of time (flipping) and the right to provenance by being notified of future owners of the work. We also have a Cease and Desist Letter and a Commission Agreement and are in the final stages of adding a Consignment Agreement for artists when they are working with a gallery. 

Our project is intentionally artist-centric. All contracts on the website are generated by filling out a questionnaire that is simple and friendly to those unfamiliar with legal jargon. This process removes a barrier for entry to this legal practice that can seem overwhelming, unfamiliar and difficult. Our contracts include terms that prioritize artists' needs and wants and are more comprehensive than many templates you can find on the internet. The terms inform artists of the possibilities available to them, and they are optional, allowing room to negotiate. We have additional resources on the website such as talking points to help artists negotiate, articles for further reading, and toolkits to simplify the process of using a contract and enforcing it.

How did you get started and what was the impetus to start the project?

This project began during the pandemic when Susan and I began having conversations around the potential for continued economic benefits from artwork after its sold (hello, resale royalty!). I met Susan through workshops I was hosting in my side business: The Artist's Office. She offered to teach a class about Contracts for Artists and her workshop opened my eyes to not only the practical reasons that written agreements should be used in professional transactions, but also for the fundamental reason that artists should value their work enough to want to protect it. 

Susan’s vocal advocacy for artists in this workshop highlighted my own personal blind spot created by the years of rejection, criticism, and dismissal I had felt when trying to advocate for myself amongst dealers, collectors and gatekeepers. We started to have open conversations with artists about their current challenges and began accumulating free resources they could use to address these issues. We also quickly learned that my own lack of knowledge of best practices and comfort with contracts was something many artists face and so education has become a key part of our project. 

Can you tell us about your background as an artist?

I realized I wanted to be a creative professional at a really young age and found visual art to be the thing that suited me most. I studied painting in college and received my BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. At the time I was finishing my undergrad, almost all the graduate students and undergrads going on to get their MFA were doing so that they could teach in college art programs as their day job. The math didn't add up to me: if all the students just at my school were expecting to get a job teaching, we would need more art schools. So, I decided not to get into debt and passed on the MFA and have always wondered if it was the right choice. 

I use this as an example to show that I have always pursued the options that felt right to me whether they were what everyone else was doing. My parents raised me to think for myself which often meant I went against the grain, but this quality helped me to thrive in my life as an artist. Carving a pathway towards "success" that feels good to me has a been on ongoing project, and the process is something I share with artists through my work in The Artist's Office as a way to build community. 

How does your work as an artist relate to your work with The Artist Contract?

I can recognize (now that I am over 40) how many of my early experiences as an artist shaped my career. Moments where I was publicly shamed for sharing my work or made to feel like I didn't know what I was doing when I questioned gallerists. I know that this has made me very cautious to the point where it can be harmful to my career. 

I have also heard from many, many artists that are peers or advanced professionals who have experienced poor, unfair, or illegal treatment in the workplace of the art world. But we have no common employer, no HR department. So, who do you turn to? Most artists quietly absorb the effects of these bad interactions and become protective of their work and wellbeing. 

This is what fuels my interest in work I do through The Artist's Contract. I want to have open conversations about issues that impact artists' careers and help us gain control over our circumstances. I also always joke that in another life I would have been a lawyer, so at least I get to dip a toe in the legal world through this project. 

Beyond the legal and financial reasons to use a contract, do you feel that there is power in the language used to write a contract? I would think that giving artists more tools to advocate for themselves may change the larger culture and future expectations in numerous ways. Have you seen this happen?

Yes! I have definitely seen this with others, but I will speak from my own experience. There are things that I didn't know were options available to me until I learned about them from other artists. For example, I've learned artists can asked to be paid for an exhibition (what a concept!). They can block certain discounts on sales without prior approval. They can negotiate terms for loans from a gallery to make new work and determine if and how they would pay this back (Take the recent experience of artist Jeffrey Gibson and his former gallery, Kavi Gupta, as an example.) 

Asking carries a great deal of power. It acknowledges expectations, desires, or needs and I think artists' "asks" have been deprioritized by many in the art world. There are things that artists should automatically have access to but are not standard practice in the art world. Identifying these “asks” through conversations with business partners will expand artists’ sense of what is possible and acceptable within their professional practice in the hopes that these things will become normalized. I believe this is what artists can do to shape the art world into a more just and equitable place. 

What do you hope the impact of this project will be in the future?

I have already seen a huge shift in the 3.5 years since we started the project. Artists are becoming more familiar with their rights and asking to be treated as professionals through things such as using contracts. I hope this trajectory continues! 

I hope that in the future, artists will not feel like they have to take what they are offered even if they know it is a dissatisfactory option. I hope artists at all stages of their career can ask for protections and professionalism without feeling like they will be seen as difficult, and fear get passed over. This change is happening, but it can't get here fast enough!

Do you have any other sources for similar types of helpful tools for artists? What are some of your go-to apps, tools, or resources?

There are many accounts on social media that I follow that provide resources and solidarity for artists and art workers. They also help me follow current issues and events that impact artists. One of the hot topics is resale royalties and it's been so interesting to watch the conversation grow. There are now many online sales platforms that have adopted resale royalties for visual artists more readily than brick and mortar galleries. Peggy, Fairchain, and On Approval are all examples of companies that are normalizing resale royalties for artists.

What are you all working on now? What's next for you?

We have a Consignment Agreement in the works that will be available on our website in 2024. Like all our contracts, the process of filling out the questionnaire will educate artists to the possibilities in their relationships with galleries. Topics like exclusivity, promotion, associated costs for framing and shipping, and commitment for exhibitions are all included. Sometimes these topics are not explicitly defined in the contracts that galleries provide, and artists are left wondering about the expectations of the relationship.

I mentioned earlier that we have been partnering with Contemporary Art League, based in Los Angeles. Our missions are closely aligned, and we have both seen a need in Los Angeles for temporary studio space. We are working on a unique way to address this issue - please stay tuned for more details!

Anything else you'd like to share?

I'd love to invite your readers to our website to test the contracts and look through the resources we've gathered. If there is anything you think we should add, let us know. Also please sign up for our mailing list where I will be sharing more details about our projects including ways to get involved and follow us on Instagram.

Thank you, Emily and Maake Magazine, for inviting us to share these resources with more artists!