Arts Law continued its efforts at bringing legal education and services to artists in regional and remote communities. Suzanne Derry* writes about two recent trips. First published in ART+law, June 2008.
Balgo
The Artists in the Black (AITB) program has continued work with the Wills Project in Western Australia, visiting Balgo from 28 to 31 May 2008. Balgo (also known as Balgo Hills) is a remote Indigenous community of about 400 people in Western Australia. Arts Law lawyers, Patricia Adjei and Suzanne Derry along with Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) lawyer, Zoe Rodriguez coordinated this program with the local Art Centre, Warlayirti Artists.
The aim of the trip was to educate Indigenous artists about wills and copyright and then to draft wills for artists. It is especially important for Indigenous Western Australians to have a will because if they pass away intestate (without a will), state legislation dealing with intestacy rules that their entire estate will be dealt with by the Public Trustees Office. A valid will is an obvious way of avoiding the distribution by the Public Trustee. The problem with having the Public Trustee deal with a person’s estate is that there are only limited circumstances in which the Public Trustee is required to recognise Indigenous distribution models. This can often result in money, copyright ownership and other possessions not being distributed in the manner the deceased person would have wished.
On the first day at Warlayirti, artists broke up into small groups and we spoke with each group about what a will is and why it is important for everyone to have one. We then moved to the Balgo Cultural Centre which adjoins Warlayirti, where we met with individual artists and asked them how they wanted their possessions to be distributed under their will (that is, the people who would be the ‘beneficiaries’ under the will) and who would be responsible for ensuring their wishes under the will were carried out (this is the person who is the ‘executor’ of the will). Following this we began writing the wills. This process was repeated on our second day at Warlayirti, with even more artists interested in having wills drafted as word had got out in the community about ‘those copyright lawyers!’
On May 30, we held an information session on copyright and contracts for artists, and approximately 20 artists attended as well as Warlayirti Artists management and members of its management committee. The session highlighted concerns about people coming in from outside the community and documenting artist’s stories by recording them and the copyright implications that arise in these situations. This issue has become problematic for many Indigenous communities with increased access to such communities, as well as the ease with which technology now allows a story to be recorded or documented. There was also concern amongst the arts community about the photography of their artwork by those purchasing the works, and the cultural and legal issues that this raises. Patricia Adjei spoke with artists about Indigenous and Cultural Intellectual Property Rights (ICIP), which lead to debate amongst artists about the gaps between Indigenous and white man’s law and how problematic these gaps can be.
On AITB’s final day at Balgo, wills were read through, interpreted and signed by many of the artists. A total of about 30 wills were drafted, with 19 signed and the remaining ones left for artists to sign when they are next available.
Port Augusta
AITB visited Port Augusta in South Australia for Port Augusta Arts Law Week from 12 to 15 May 2008. This is a small town about three hours drive from Adelaide. AITB lawyer, Patricia Adjei and Arts Law lawyer Suzanne Derry were invited by Country Arts South Australia to present a number of seminars for Arts Law Week.
On the first day in Port Augusta, we visited a number of organisations concerned with Indigenous rights, including Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, Women’s Legal Services, Aboriginal Youth Services, Legal Services Commission and the Aboriginal Family Violence Legal Service. We spoke with these organisations about the AITB program and about some general copyright issues which might arise for their organisations. In the afternoon, we presented on Umeewarra Aboriginal Media Association, the local radio station, introducing ourselves and letting the public know about what AITB was, and the week’s program which lay ahead. The following morning, we set out for the first session, which focussed on copyright and contracts. We then repeated the session in the evening for those unable to attend due to work commitments. On the second day, we ran a further copyright and contracts session.
Being an area with many active artists, these sessions highlighted the need for information about copyright licensing and sale of artwork. An issue that was raised frequently throughout the week was the sale of artwork through the various Community Development and Employment Program (CDEP) projects, and the lack of clarity about copyright ownership of those involved in such projects.
AITB’s final two days in Port Augusta were spent giving sessions on three different topics: festivals, wills and running an arts organisation. We were fortunate enough to run a session with the Steering Committee for the Port Augusta Festival, which was very interesting because it raised a number of concerns about risk management, which were current and directly relevant to the individuals involved. It also meant we could learn more about Indigenous involvement in the Port Augusta Festival.
Thank you!
Arts Law and AITB thank all those who supported and assisted with our attendance at Balgo and Port Augusta.
A special thank you to Zoe Rodriguez and the Copyright Agency Limited for funding the Wills Project in 2008.
* Suzanne Derry is a solicitor at Arts Law.
