This spring, CARFAC presents a National Arts Law Conference, which will bring together lawyers with experience in arts and entertainment law, ranging from copyright and contract law, to estate planning, tax, labour, and more.
Schedule for Lawyers
Are you looking for the Artists’ Stream?
Friday, June 8th:
12:00 – 1pm, Registration
Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
1:00 -1:30 pm, Opening remarks
Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
1:30 – 2:15 pm, Keynote by Henry Lydiate
Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
Henry Lydiate is an arts lawyer at the Henry Lydiate Partnership, visiting Professor at the University of the Arts London, and holds an LL.B from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is one of the founders of the UK’s Artlaw, a free legal clinic and resource hub for visual artists, and consulted on the development of the Arts Law Centre of Australia. Lydiate will speak about the expansion of national legal arts networks an international context. He will address the challenges faced by lawyers when working with artists, and models that have been successful to address those challenges.
2:15 – 3:30 pm, Artist Legal Clinic Case studies
Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
A series of case studies will be presented on the history and development of artists’ legal clinics in North America. Speakers will discuss the services that their clinic offers, common legal challenges faced by artists, tips on setting up an artist legal clinic, how to make legal services available and accessible to artists, and leadership skills required in managing a clinic.
Speakers: Martha Rans (Director of Vancouver’s Artist’s Legal Outreach – ALO), Keith Serry (Co-founder of Montreal’s Clinique juridique des artistes de Montreal – CJAM), Louis E. Greenwald (volunteer for California Lawyers for the Arts).
4:00 – 5:00 pm, Breakout group discussion
Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
Group participants will discus the current and future state of art law clinics in Canada, and how newer clinics in Montreal, Halifax and Ottawa are developing alongside the more established clinics in Toronto and Vancouver. They will discuss best practices for working in a clinic, how new technologies can make legal resources available to a larger audience of artists, and the resources and funding that may be available to help make clinics more sustainable.
Group leaders include : Kristian Clarke (representative from Visual Artists’ Legal Clinic of Ontario), Marian Hebb (Co-founder of Toronto’s Artists’ Legal Advice Service – ALAS), Paul Sanderson (Co-founder of ALAS), and Rachelle Laforge (Co-founder of Artists’ Legal Services Ottawa – ALSO). Moderated by April Britski (National Executive Director, CARFAC), and Tanya Woods (Co-founder of ALSO).
6:00 – 8:00 pm, Welcome dinner
Lord Elgin Hotel, Pearson Room
Legal delegates are invited to attend a special networking dinner, where participants are invited to get to know each other better.
8:00 – 10:00 pm, Welcome Reception and Visual Arts Advocacy Award Presentation
Ottawa Art Gallery, Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue
The Visual Arts Advocacy Award honours a professional artist from Ontario who has made a significant contribution as an advocate for the Canadian visual arts community. Past winners include Kim Ondaatje, Tony Urquhart, Marlene Creates, Todd Janes, and Sarah Petite. This year, a special award presentation will also be made to Ottawa lawyer, David Yazbeck, for his contribution to legal arts advocacy.
Saturday, June 9th:
9:30 – 10:00 am, Registration
Lord Elgin Hotel, Pearson Room
10:15 – 10:30 am, Welcome and Opening remarks
Lord Elgin Hotel, Pearson Room
10:30 – 12:30 pm, Art + Labour
Lord Elgin Hotel, Pearson Room
Despite the many rights enjoyed by workers in other sectors, access to justice when it comes to labour issues is still out of reach for most artists. This panel will explore the challenges faced by artists when they attempt to bargain both individually and collectively, the work being done to establish best practice standards at the provincial level and the challenges faced by artists from equity seeking groups.
Panelists: Lise Létourneau (Visual Artist and President of Le Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec), Charles Smith (Lecturer, Cultural Pluralism in the Arts/University of Toronto Scarborough), Pierre Tessier (Visual Artist and Co-Chair of the CARFAC-RAAV Bargaining Committee), David Yazbeck (Partner at Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne & Yazbeck LLP). Moderated by Melissa Gruber (National Advocacy and Communications Director, CARFAC)
12:30 – 1:30 pm, Lunch provided at the Lord Elgin Hotel
Pearson Room
1:30 – 3:30 pm, Copyright: The fair, the unfair and the artists left behind
Lord Elgin Hotel, Pearson Room
With the imminent passing of Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Copyright Act, lawyers and creators alike have questions about the grey areas that may now exist as a result of new legislated changes. A panel of experts will provide their different perspectives on the impact that the amendments could have for artists, including the expansion of educational use and fair dealing, the introduction of parody, and how copyright can be shared while also protected through social media and web use.
Panelists: Casey Chisick (Partner at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP), Ysolde Gendreau (Professor of Law at the University of Montreal), Roanie Levy (General Counsel and Director, Policy and External Affairs, Access Copyright) , Steve Seiferling (IP lawyer and legal counsel for Mosaic Potash), Aidan O’Neill (IP Lawyer & Partner at Fasken-Martineau LLP). Moderated by Alain Pineau (Executive Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts).
3:30 – 7:00 pm, Gallery Hop
Group visits to the City Hall Gallery, Galerie SAW Gallery,Karsh-Masson Gallery, La Petite Mort Gallery, the Ottawa Art Gallery, the Ottawa School of Art Gallery, and Terence Robert Gallery will be organized, with directions provided.
8:00 – 11:00 pm, Reception with Spins and Needles
Club SAW, 67 Nicholas Street
Join us for a fun and creative night out with Spins & Needles, Ottawa’s mobile art party that mixes underground beats spun by DJs, with hands-on art projects. Tonight’s projects will fit the theme of Art+ Law.
Sunday, June 10th:
10:00 – 12:00 am, Artist’s Resale Right panel
Lord Elgin Hotel, Pearson Room
ARR – you ready?! Artists, art market professionals, and lawyers step in the ring with this panel on the Artist’s Resale Right. The ARR is a copyright amendment that CARFAC is actively lobbying for, which would give visual artists 5% from the commercial resale of their work. Speakers will discuss the future place of the ARR in Canada, based on CARFAC’s proposal and the experience of other countries.
Panelists: April Britski (National Executive Director, CARFAC), Louis E. Greenwald (Partner at Choi & Greenwald), Henry Lydiate (Partner at The Henry Lydiate Partnership LLP, Creative Arts Business Consultancy), Stephen Ranger (Vice President, Business Development, Waddingtons.ca). Moderated by Don Monet (Visual Artist and Owner/Gallerist at Cube Gallery).
12:00 – 1:00 pm, Lunch provided at the Lord Elgin Hotel
Pearson Room
1:00 – 2:30 pm, Legal breakout groups
Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
Legal delegates will break into groups according to areas of practice (ie: copyright, labour, tax, estate, contract, etc). This opportunity allows delegates to talk with their peers about issues that they regularly deal with, and to provide more discipline-specific discussions.
Moderated by Paul Sanderson (Partner at Sanderson Entertainment Law LLP) and Marian Hebb (Partner at Hebb & Sheffer LLP).
3:00 – 4:30 pm, National Legal Network Open Forum
Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
Legal delegates are invited to attend an open forum which considers the potential need for a national arts lawyers’ network, which can share resources and provide mentorship for those who work primarily with artists and arts organizations. Future steps to be taken in the formation of an ongoing advisory group will be discussed.
4:30 – 5:00 pm, Closing remarks
The Lord Elgin Hotel, Pearson Room
This program can be applied towards the 9 Substantive Hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) required by the Law Society of Upper Canada. Please note that this program is not accredited for Professionalism hours or for the New Member Requirement.
Registration Rates – Lawyers’ Stream
Regular rate: $300
Law students: $150
Please note: Participants will be responsible for arranging their own travel and accommodations.
Send us a registration form and a cheque or register via Paypal:
Accommodations
The Lord Elgin is offering a discounted room rate for conference participants of $159. To book a room call 1-800-267-4298 and quote “CARFAC” or the “National Conference for Visual Artists”.
If you are looking for a budget option, the HI-Ottawa Jail Hostel offers shared and private rooms at very reasonable rates and is a fifteen minute walk from the conference.
Transportation
Porter
Porter Airlines is proud to offer a 20% discount on all available base fares for travel to and from the National Conference for Visual Artists. The discounted fares are available for booking from February 10 to June 13, 2012 and available for travel:
From: Anywhere in Canada, To: Ottawa
From: June 5, 2012, To: June 10, 2012
From: Ottawa, To: Anywhere in Canada
From: June 8, 2012, To: June 13, 2012
Please book online at www.flyporter.com or through your travel agent using promo code VISUAL.
Porter offers complimentary in-flight snacks and beverages (including beer and wine), GatePorter service for carry-on and access to the Porter Lounge in Toronto and Ottawa, where free Wi-Fi and comfortable, leather seating is available.
The promo code is intended for use by conference attendees and organizers and is not meant for distribution outside of authorized channels. Porter’s fare rules and conditions apply. For any questions regarding Porter’s services or any pre-travel concerns, contact us at 1-888-619-8622.
VIA Rail
VIA Rail is also offering a 10% discount to conference participants:
Online booking tips: You have to log in to your profile, or create one prior to booking. On the Passenger information screen, select “Convention fare” from the “Discount Type” drop-down menu, and enter the discount code 12330 in the “Discount code” field. The conference fare will be shown on the next page.
Conditions: Valid June 7 to June 11, 2012, from all stations throughout the VIA system to Ottawa, Ontario and return. Fare applies to a maximum of two passengers per booking. One complimentary stopover is allowed at no additional charge. For travel on all fare plans in Business class, the first stopover is allowed at no additional charge, provided that this stopover takes place in Toronto, Montréal or Ottawa only. 10% off the best available fare in Economy, Business, Sleeper, or Sleeper Touring class. “Subject to the conditions and restrictions of the fare plan to which the additional discount is being applied.” Discount does not apply in Economy – special fare or Business – supersaver fare. Participants must reference the event’s VIA confirmation number: 12330.
Contact us for more information.
Current conference partners include:
Law Foundation of Prince Edward Island; Jordan Nahmias, Media Lawyer; City Hall Art Gallery; Galerie SAW Gallery; Karsh-Masson Gallery; La Petite Mort Gallery; the Ottawa School of Art and Terence Robert Gallery.