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Arts Law Centre of Australia

Details

Arts Law is an independent national community legal centre for the arts. It provides free or low cost specialised legal advice, education and resources to Australian artists and arts organisations across all art forms, on a wide range of arts related legal and business matters. The Artists in the Black program delivers targeted services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.

Arts Law was funded to:

  • provide legal advice services to artists and arts organisations in Queensland, including a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists 
  • develop information and resources through the Arts Law and Artists in the Black websites for Queensland arts communities – for example, an intellectual property toolkit for Indigenous arts organisations to help develop new income streams 
  • provide workshops and seminars to artists and arts organisations, which included the trial of a new outreach clinic model in Far North Queensland.

When

2014

Where

Brisbane, Stradbroke Island, Cairns, Innisfail, Cardwell, Aurukun, Napranum, Old Mapoon, Thursday Island and Darnley Island. 

Photo of workshop participants

Key stats

  • 13 workshops
  • 312 individual legal advice sessions
  • 687 participants in workshops and individual advice sessions

Arts Queensland contribution

$30,000 – Projects and Programs Fund

Outcomes

  • Significant increase in Arts Law services provided in Queensland, including 26 per cent increase in telephone advice and 47 per cent in document review services. Seventy-four per cent of clients in Queensland were new to Arts Law.
  • Addressing a gap in the marketplace, with most artists supported by Arts Law indicating they would not be in a position to access legal services otherwise. The estimated value of legal advice provided in Queensland based on commercial rates was $412,300.
  • Positive outcomes for artists and arts organisations receiving Arts Law services, with 96 per cent of respondents to feedback surveys stating they felt more confident dealing with legal issues that affected them, 98 per cent stating they acquired new knowledge and skills and 95 per cent stating they would be able to put learnings into practice in the future.
  • Development of a new ‘outreach clinic’ model for delivering professional development in regional Queensland, based on a partnership with local government. This approach was successfully piloted with Cassowary Coast Regional Council and has led to interest from other local councils. 

Learnings and reflections

Arts Law offered the following reflections on partnership development and evaluation: 

“The partnership with Cassowary Coast Regional Council provided a good model for further professional development programs in Queensland. It was successful in terms of the number of participants because of the relationships the council already had with the community. Arts Law is actively working to develop relationships with other local governments with strong interest in the arts.

In all aspects of service delivery by Arts Law and Artists in the Black, the importance of partnerships cannot be overemphasised. Such partnerships are crucial to engaging local audiences whether it be to participate in a professional development project or just help disseminate information about the services Arts Law and Artists in the Black provide and the ways we can assist creators across art forms and communities.

On a practical note, Arts Law received less feedback from educational sessions than we anticipated. Feedback has been gathered through use of online surveys and whilst this is a very easy tool to implement, we are missing out on important feedback which will help us develop our services. In 2015 we will be using a mixture of online and hard copy surveys which will be distributed at the time education is provided.”

Contact for further information

Website: www.artslaw.com.au

Links

Artists in the Black website

 

Read more about Arts Law Centre of Australia. (PDF) (307.32 KB)