California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1974, to provide legal services to artists and members of the creative arts community. The first executive director was Hamish Sandison, who was a recent graduate of Boalt Hall at University of California, Berkeley and is now a solicitor in London, England, specializing in law and technology. In 1987, Bay Area Lawyers for the Arts (BALA) joined forces with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts-Los Angeles (VLA) to form California Lawyers for the Arts as a statewide organization. CLA is part of an informal network of “Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts” programs that serve artists through state-based organizations throughout the United States.“A pro bono party for helpful lawyers” by Melody Hanatani for Santa Monica Daily Press (article dated March 1–2, 2008)

CLA has offices in Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento, and the organization serves more than 11,000 artists annually. CLA has nearly 1,800 paid members, including artists and arts organizations of all disciplines and cultural backgrounds, attorneys, accountants, and teachers.

History In its early history, CLA board members and staff worked with state legislators to promulgate artists' rights legislation in California, including the State's Resale Royalty Act (1976) and the California Art Preservation Act (1980).

In 1993, with the help of a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Advancement grant, CLA expanded its mission to include articulating “a role for the arts in community development.” Following this, CLA received the first art-related grant from the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Families. In the mid-1990s, CLA began its statewide planning efforts, including a planning retreat with local arts agencies to include the arts in military base conversion. This work led to both a national conference funded by the NEA Design Arts Program and subsequent projects in Marin, San Francisco, Monterey and San Diego.

Legislation

CLA has played a major role in enacting legislation for artists’ rights. In 1976, CLA collaborated with Senator Alan Sieroty of Los Angeles to enact the California Resale Royalties Act, which provides artists with a royalty on the resale price of any work of art. California remains the only state in the United States with this legislation.Legislative Masterpieces (p 4) Although the law has been under controversy since its inception, the United States District Court upheld the law in 1978 in an opinion written by Judge Robert Takasugi.Id. at 6. The United States Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court’s decision in Moreseberg v. Balyon, 621. F. 2d. 972 (9th Cir,), cert denied, 449 U.S. 983 (1980), stating that the Act is “an economic regulation to promote artistic endeavors generally.” Id. at 20

CLA also helped with the enactment of California Art Preservation Act (CAPA), California Civil Code Section 987. CAPA took effect on January 1, 1980 and granted artists the right to integrity, and the right of authorship. The right of integrity gives an artist the right to sue to prevent a work of his or her art from suffering injury, or to collect damages for an injury already suffered. The right of authorship provides an artist with the right to claim or disclaim authorship of a work of art.Id. at 9.

Programs Lawyer referral and information services

CLA has a lawyer referral services for creative artists, arts organizations, and those with arts-related matters. The referral service handles arts and non-arts-related issues such as copyright, contract drafting, review, and negotiation, non-profit organization issues, landlord/tenant, organizational tax, employee or independent contractor, mediation and arbitration. Through a panel of specialized attorneys, CLA matches each client with a legal professional equipped to handle their specific needs.

Arts Arbitration and Mediation Services

AAMS was started in 1980 and provides alternative dispute resolution to artists, entertainers, and other members of the creative arts community. CLA’s AAMS program was the first alternative dispute resolution program in the United States to tailor its services for the arts and entertainment communities.

AAMS provides counseling, conciliation, mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation and meeting facilitation. The service has neutral program coordinators who help artists throughout the state. AAMS coordinators also offer conciliation assistance, coordinate mediations with trained mediators, or coordinate arbitrations or early neutral evaluations.

Sacramento Mediation Center

The Sacramento Mediation Center (SMC) became a program of California Lawyers for the Arts in 2008 and is administered in CLA's Sacramento office. SMC provides mediation services to anyone in the Sacramento region on a wide range of topics and is not limited to arts-related cases.

Arts and Community Development

CLA launched The Arts and Community Development Project in 1993, which provides summer and year-round job and intern experiences in the arts to deserving young people.

Spotlight on the Arts is a program of The Arts and Community Development Project specifically aimed at deserving teens interested in the arts. These teenagers are provided with paid summer internships, workshops on conflict resolution, college preparation and career development, and trips to live cultural events. This Project is funded by public and private agencies and individuals.

Designing Creative Futures Designing Creative Futures is a paid arts-focused internship program for formerly incarcerated individuals. This four month program offers unique opportunities for returning residents to work closely with arts organizations through paid, part-time internships. Participants learn a variety of skills associated with careers in the arts and gain mentorship from people who are leaders in their respective fields.

Publications

The Art of Deduction has been published by CLA annually since the 1980s to serve as a tax preparation guide for creative artists. This publication offers a detailed explanation of tax preparation issues including money-saving tax filing tips specifically geared toward the creative community.

CLA published the first edition of Legislative Masterpieces in 1980, in response to the need for a comprehensive resource on California Legislative initiatives to protect artists and their works. This publication is updated periodically as the California Legislation emerges. Legislative Masterpieces is designed to serve as a useful tool for the California arts community and others nationwide.

Advocacy Recent advocacy efforts have focused on restoring state funding for the arts in California, starting with a series of three symposia on California Arts and Healthy Communities, held in Los Angeles, Walnut Creek and San Jose from 2006-08. The Arts and Environmental Initiative was begun in 2008 with a Dialogue in San Francisco, followed by a second Dialogue in Los Angeles in 2011. Efforts to restore Arts-in-Corrections programs began in early 2011.

Artistic License Awards

In 2008, the organization began its Artistic License Awards in order to recognize leaders in government, law and the arts or arts organizations who have made a positive impact on the arts in California.

Awards recipients include:

Adobe The Carlin Family The Chinese Culture Center, 2022 Rafael Mandelman, Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 2022 Judy Chiu, U.S. Representative, 2020 Ben Allen, California State Senator, 2020 The Santa Fe Art Colony, 2020 Vijay Gupta, 2020 Buck Busfield, 2019 Dr. Sheree Meyer, 2019 The Royal Chicano Air Force, 2019 Phil Serna, Member, Sacramento Supervisor, 2019 Daniel Yamshon, 2019 Ted Lieu, U.S. Representative, 2017 Annette Bening Craig Watson Self Help Graphics & Art E. Randol Schoenberg, 2017 Mark Leno, California State Senator, 2016 Jim Nielsen, California State Senator, 2016 The Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus, 2016 Marcy Friedman, 2016 Art Luna, 2016 Ali Youssefi, 2016 Ellen Taylor, 2016 The Hancock Funds The William James Association, 2015 Dr. Larry Brewster, University of San Francisco, 2015 Steven Hirsch & Katherine Lloyd-Lovett of Keker, Van Nest & Peter, LLP, 2015 Deborah Santana, Do a Little Fund, 2015 London Breed, Member, San Francisco Supervisor, 2015 John A. Pérez, Assembly Speaker Emeritus, 2014 Fish & Richardson, P.C., 2014 The Actors' Gang, 2014 Carol Liu, California State Senator, 2013 Alan Sieroty, California State Senator (ret)., 2013 Wayne Kramer, Jail Guitar Doors USA, 2013 Intel Corporation, 2013 Catherine Emmanuel, 2013 Curren D. Price, Jr., California Senator, 2012 Inner-City Arts, 2012 McDermott, Will & Emery, 2012 Ozomatli, 2012 Samuel Hoi, President, Otis College, 2012 Roger Dickinson, Member California State Assembly, 2012 Milton Bowens, 2012 Liam Jones, 2012 Susan Orr, 2012 Jerry Perry, 2012 Russell Solomon, 2012 Attorney Jay L. Cooper, 2011 Artist Frank Romero, 2011 Musician Cathy Segal-Garcia, 2011 LA Board of Supervisors Member Mark Ridley-Thomas, 2011 PEN Center USA, 2011 Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, Chair of the California Arts Council, 2011

Geffen Playhouse, 2010 Robert Graham (in memoriam), 2010 Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP, 2010 Elsa Ramo, Esq., 2010 Former First Lady of California Maria Shriver, 2010 San Francisco Symphony, 2010 U.S. Representative Diane Watson, 2010 U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, 2010 Rhodessa Jones of Cultural Odyssey, 2010 Fenwick & West, 2010 Henry Hopkins (in memoriam), 2010 Abe Carnow, CPA, 2009 Danny Glover and Ben Guillory of the Robey Theatre Company, 2009 Don Knabe, Member, LA County Board of Supervisors, 2009 Adolfo V. Nodal, 2009 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, 2009 Kim Curry-Evans, 2009 Stephen L. Davis, Esq., 2009 Charles (Chuck) Miller (in memoriam), 2009 Darrell Steinberg, California State Senate President Pro Tem, 2009 Wayne Thiebaud, Artist, 2009 Rose Marie Cano of Plaza de la Raza, 2008 Greenberg Glusker, 2008 Jan Perry, LA City Council Member, 2008 Jack Scott, California State Senator, 2008 Greg Victoroff, 2008 June Wayne, Artist, 2008 Zev Yaroslavsky, Member, LA County Board Supervisors, 2008

References

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