This Index is displayed in Alphabetic order
When a choreographic artist works with a museum, agreements and contracts help to understand and make provision for each party's roles and responsibilities. This might include the artistic process, collaboration, mutuality and shared risk, and financial responsibilities. Agreements should include as much information as possible to avoid any misunderstanding at a later stage in the working relationship. At the same time, they should support the artistic process and not commit the artist/s to deliver a concept in a prescriptive way, but rather allow flexibility in the process.
Individual artists may need support to understand or negotiate during the contracting process, to ensure the process is fair and functional. Potential imbalance between museum and artist legal resources and expertise should be recognised and avoided where possible. A museum could assist by outlining agreements through conversation or the use of accessible language, supporting independent artist/s to seek a producer or auspicing service, or allocating budget for the artist to seek their own legal advice. Artists might benefit from being offered templates and example agreements to reference ahead of receiving their own agreements.
Museums may have their primary agreement with the lead artist or contract all members of the artist team independently.
If contracting the lead artist solely, the artist may choose to contract the team through a producer, auspicor or a production company that can support the artistic team with administration and financial management. Agreements between an artist and other creatives may be the clearest way to express contributions, expectations, authorship and relationships. Artist teams may or may not choose to use agreements between themselves depending on the structure of those working relationships and may, rather, choose to work outside of conventional legal structures, for example, utilising specific First or Indigenous Peoples’ models.
Alternatively, the museum may contract the entire artist team (performers, sound artist, choreographer, etc) directly.
A fictional example of an Artist Releasing Copyright Control.
A fictional example of an Artist Releasing Copyright Control.
This form is used when the artist and/or museum instead to record or broadcast a performance with other performers present.
This form is used when the artist and/or museum instead to record or broadcast a performance with other performers present.
A sample artist agreement for a performance work from AGNSW.
A sample artist agreement for a performance work from AGNSW.
