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Legal Issues for the Contemporary Artist

Presented by Broward Cultural Division at ArtServe

October 22, 2011

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BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Broward County Commission’s Cultural Division, ArtServe, Inc., and the South Florida Artists Association will present Legal Issues for the Contemporary Artist with the Associate Director of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq. This unique set of training sessions to assist individual artists working in all disciplines, will be held on Saturday, October 22, 2011, 9: 00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., at ArtServe, Inc. 1350 sunrise Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale

The half-day seminar for arts professionals will cover the legal and business issues that affect individual artists and professionals within arts and cultural organizations. This is a course for artists of all disciplines, including visual artists, performance artists, writers, fashion designers, filmmakers, musicians, web designers, and anyone working in interactive media. Also, cultural organizations, recently admitted attorneys and other professionals who represent artists, should also benefit from this program.

"Legal issues can be overwhelming for many visual and performing artists: relationships with galleries, appropriation practices, damaged artwork, art world employment practices, fundraising for projects, and collaborations with other artists are just some of the issues visual artists face,” says Sarmiento. With this in mind, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has structured a half-day workshop for contemporary artists that will make legalese comprehensible and manageable, while giving visual artists an introduction to legal issues necessary to protect themselves and their art projects. This half-day workshop will cover intellectual property (copyright and trademarks); contracts and consignment agreements; basic business models (non-profit and for-profit corporations, LLC's, fiscal sponsorships); employment issues with studio and gallery assistants; artist websites.

Sergio Muñoz Sarmiento, Esq., is currently the Associate Director for Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts in New York City, where he advises and represents visual and performing artists and arts organizations. He received his BA in Art from the University of Texas-El Paso, and an MFA in Art from The California Institute of the Arts. In 1997 he was a Van Lier Fellow at the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program in Studio Art, and received his J.D. from Cornell Law School. He is an Adjunct Professor of art law at Fordham Law School, and is also the Program Director and faculty of VLA's Art & Law Residency Program. His legal experience includes advising artists, galleries, and arts organizations on matters involving copyright, trademarks, moral rights, free speech, and artist-gallery disputes. He has recently worked on an important appeal under the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 on behalf of the Swiss installation artist Christoph Büchel in the artist’s highly-publicized dispute with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Saturday workshop fee is $25 which includes resource materials, light refreshments and free parking. Checks should be made payable to: The Cultural Foundation of Broward, or register by credit card online.


For more information, call Adriane Clarke, 954-357-7530.


The South Florida Artists Association will host a “Meet-up” the evening of Friday, October 21, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at Full Circle Gallery 201 SW 5th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. Mr. Sarmiento will provide a talk on: Issues in Public Art and Commissioning agreements for the group. For more information on this “Meet-up” event go to: www.south-florida-artists.com or contact 954-695-1587.