7 April

NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize 2015

Arts Law maintains an ongoing watch advocating fair and transparent contractual terms for competitions and prizes and is highly critical of terms which unnecessarily deprive artists of rights in their own work.  Arts Law often contacts competition organisers urging them to amend their terms and conditions to be fairer to entrants, especially where copyright and moral rights are affected.

The competitions are rated based on a review of the terms and conditions which relate to the entrant’s copyright and moral rights. Read more about the rating system here.

By accepting the terms and conditions of a competition, artists should be aware that they are entering a legally binding contract. For more information on competition conditions see our free information sheet here.

We also invite competition organisers to contact Arts Law for best practice assistance on making their terms and conditions fairer for artists.

The NSW Plein Air Painting Prize recieved 4 / 5 stars for fairness to artists. They have made significant changes to its terms and conditions from 2014 and this year receives 4 stars which is a huge improvement. The Parliament has limited the licence to apply to finalists and semi-finalists rather than all entrants, limited the term of the licence to 2 years and makes a positive undertaking to attribute authorship of the artwork. This is great news for entrants and sets a best practice example for other government agencies.

The deadline for this competion closes on the 16 April 2015.