Artist Legacy and Estate Planning Clinic
The death of the artist is inevitable, but artistic legacy can avoid a similar fate. So what happens with an artist’s works after death? Secondary market sales for artists can be an assurance that the artist’s creative output will live on well after the artist themself; yet, relatively few artists reach those secondary markets, leading to the potential loss of 20th and 21st century art. This fact does not escape artists dealing with these uncertainties and ambiguities.
Artists have options when determining where their art will go and how it will be distributed by their estate. While art transcends time and space, artistic legacy, estate management, and intellectual property are complicated and practical issues that artists should address in due time. The Center for Art Law is rolling up its sleeves and pooling together a taskforce of estate and legacy planning resources and professionals to guide artists and their heirs through this difficult process.
The Artist Legacy and Estate Planning Clinic connects artists, estate administrators, attorneys, tax advisors, and other experts to create meaningful and lasting solutions for expanding the art canon and art legacy planning.
In addition to one-on-one pro bono consultations, the Clinic will offer primers on how to start assessing the physical and IP assets artists create throughout their lives and how their works and influence can have a lasting impact on their community, contemporaries, and generations of artists and viewers.
Upcoming Clinic Events
Selection of Past Events on Point
Programming
To view or gain more information about our previous programming, please visit our Event Archives.
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July 6
2023
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June 21
2023
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December 5
2022
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November 21
2022
12:00 pm EST
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June 27
2022
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June 16
2022
12:00 am EST
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May 16
2022
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March 30
2022
Volunteer Attorneys and Professionals
Private: Leslie Calero
Art Appraiser, Department
of Appraisals
Private: Christopher Wise
Risk and Insurance Management,
Risk Strategies
Private: Elizabeth Devolder
Founding Attorney, Elizabeth
Devolder Law Office
Private: Amanda Nelson
Principal, Atrium Amore
Private: Ashley Burke
Appraiser, Burke & Co.
Fine Art Consultants
Private: Galina Portnoy
CPA, TAG Associates
Private: Charles T Rosoff
Appraiser, ASA MRICS
Private: David J. Bright
Attorney, Associate Director, Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center
Private: Irina Tarsis
If you are interested in participating in the EPC, please write to clinic@itsartlaw.org
FAQs
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Who may register?
- We encourage participation by visual artists who wish to build and strengthen their case for employment-based visa applications over the next 6-12 months.
- The 1:1 consultations that occur at the Clinic are not suitable for artists with urgent immigration issues. However, all visual artists are welcome to attend and listen to the presentation.
- The Clinic best serves those artists which have no attorney and are seeking a first-time legal consultation. If you already attended a session of the Visual Artists’ Immigration Clinic, we encourage you to reach out to the attorney(s) you already met with (contact information is in the handouts distributed at the session).
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How do I register?
- Pre-registration is mandatory for a $10 fee.
- Registration takes place through Eventbrite, where you will need to fill out a confidential intake form.
- Choose your preferred session date; you do not need to attend all open sessions.
- Dial-in details and other instructions will be emailed once registration has been confirmed; be sure to check your emails in the days leading up to the Clinic.
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How do I prepare for the Clinic?
Make sure that you have the following documents on your computer:
- A passport showing your current visa;
- CV or resume;
- List of exhibitions and media publications about your work.
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What happens after the Clinic?
The Center for Art Law will be providing immigration law guides and the contact information of the Volunteer Attorneys participating in each session.
If you wish to pursue the conversation with the Volunteer Attorneys participating in the session, you should reach out to them directly!
If you have any further questions, please
Media Features
The East Hampton Star, Estate Planning for Artists,
Dec. 9, 2021
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Since 2009, the Center for Art Law has organized hundreds of events and published over 1,000 relevant, accessible, and editorially independent articles. As a nonprofit working with artists and students, the Center for Art Law relies on your support to fund our work. Become a premium subscriber and gain access to discounts on events and archives of articles and/or hundreds of case summaries, intended for a worldwide audience of legal professionals, artists, researchers, and students

Thaler v. Perlmutter, Civil Action No. 22-1564 (BAH) (D.C. Aug. 18, 2023).