Most of the tips apply to amateur and professional photographers alike, but if your photos will be used for commercial purposes, don’t forget that some jurisdictions have stronger rights of publicity and privacy laws than others.

California spends approximately 3 cents per capita on support for the arts. This ranks California dead last among the states. The national average spending per capita is about $1.00. California’s position is simply shameful, expecially considering that the State ranks among the largest economies in the world, with entertainment (arts) as its largest export.

The California Assembly Appropriations Committee is currently considering AB 1365, which will rectify the situation. The new law, if passed, would require that 20% of state sales and use tax revenues derived from the sales of two specific retail categories pertaining to arts, crafts and music be deposited in the State Treasury for allocation to the California Art Council.

It is estimated that the 4.75% rate of sales and use tax on works of art amounts to $166 million per year. AB 1365 would transfer 20% of this amount, or $32 million from the state’s General Fund to the California Arts Council.

This is not a new tax; it is merely a designation for the spending of dollars the state is already collecting. It only applies to the state-level sales-tax. Counties’ and Cities’ portions of sales tax revenue would not be impacted.

Why I support AB 1365

California is in its third year spending three cents per capita from the general fund on the arts. AB 1365 will provide badly needed funding for the California Arts Council and in turn, it can provide programs that serve all Californians, not just for some.

California’s nonprofit arts sector alone provides $5.4 billion in economic activity annually, supporting more than 160,000 jobs and generating $300 million in local and state revenue. Increasing California’s investment in the nonprofit arts sector will create more jobs and generate more tax revenue.

The nonprofit arts community that the California Arts Council has nurtured over the years is a feeder to California’s creative industry. According to the Americans for the Arts Creative Industries Report (using reliable data from Dun & Bradstreet and geo-economic analysis), California is home to 86,534 arts-related businesses that employed 426,222 people in January 2007. These are California businesses; these are California jobs.

The arts attract new tourism dollars. Public support of cultural tourism plays a critical role in community revitalization as well as the surge in tourism, one of the fastest growing economic markets in the country today, with California leading the nation as the most visited state. Cultural travelers spend more money and stay longer at their destinations. These travelers spend an average of $38.05 per event in addition to the cost of admission – 75% percent more than their local counterparts – on event-related items such as meals, parking and retail sales. Local attendees spend $21.75 per person per event.

Cities throughout California have revived and rebuilt their downtowns by restoring old theaters, opening new store-front galleries and concert halls, and offering festivals and art walks that bring the community together in the downtown setting. Attendance at arts events generates related commerce for local businesses such as restaurants, parking garages, hotels and retail stores. By creating cultural hubs, nonprofit arts businessess help cities define themselves, draw toruists and attract investment.

Many arts organizations offer education and social service outreach programs to a variety of populations and agencies, such as: Youth at risk; homeless children; children with autism, diabetes and obesity; seniors; developmentally and physically disabled; Alzheimer’s and dementia patients; veterans with post traumatic stress disorder; hospitals and health care centers; parks and recreation centers; after school programs and underserved urban and rural communities.

Since 1977 the California Arts Council (CAC) has celebrated excellence in the arts. It has encouraged widespread public participation by supporting professional artists who work in all areas of the state, helping to build strong arts organizations at the local level, assisting with the professional development of arts leaders, promoting awareness of the value of the arts and directly supporting arts programs for children. CAC programs include Artists in the Schools, Poetry Outloud, American Masterpieces, Creating Public Value Through the Arts, California Arts Day, the California Poet Laureate and My California: Journeys by Great Writers.

The arts are vital to the quality of life that we are so very proud of in California. With the passage of AB 1365, the California Arts Council and its programs will make it possible to continue its significant contribution to California’s economic recovery through tourism, jobs, social services, education and arts for all.

How you can help

Please consider supporting this important bill by faxing your letters of support to:

Assemblywoman Betty Karnette (the Bill’s author) (916)319-2154
Speaker Fabian Nunez (913)19-2146
and,
Your district’s Assembly member.

You can also send your words of support electronically by visiting California Arts Advocates’ online Action Center

It seems a public interest group recently downloaded scores of photographs from the Smithsonian Institution and posted them on the photo-sharing site flickr. The problem is… the Smithsonian’s ‘copyright’ page prohibits this type of exploitation of the images… even if they’re in the public domain.

Can contract law reach where copyright law doesn’t?

According to Brown’s piece, few states, localities or countries have provided for exceptions to their smoking bans. This has led producers and theatres to make changes (usually unauthorized by playwrights), cancel productions altogether, or simply to flout the law. In fact, many such bans even prohibit the use of ‘alternative’ smoke products such as the herbal bidi cigarettes often used by non-smokers performing parts that call for smoking. Government officials often take the view that crafting exceptions to a law can ultimately render the law useless.. the exceptions swallow the rule. Nevertheless, a move is afoot in Ohio to carve a theater exception to the state’s prohibition on smoking in public places.

For the most part, legal scholars agree that theatres and producer would have the First Amendment on their side, were they to challenge a smoking ban in court. It’s hard to imagine a court enforcing such a prior restraint on an artistic expression. the question, then, will be whether smoking on stage can be considered a form of artistic expression.

In my view, neither government nor Courts should be involved in a determination of what constitutes Art. Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Note… interestingly, Ohio has been home to more than a few first amdendment battles. Notably, the unsuccessful 1990 prosecution of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and its director Dennis Barrie on charges of “pandering obscenity” for displaying Robert Mapplethorpe‘s The Perfect Moment exhibit .

Metro.co.uk reports on a recent Florida based production of “The Vagina Monologues” being re-titled to address objections from a community member, then having its title restored after the author and publisher put their foot down.

Does the 1st Amendment apply to smoking as a form of “speech”. If the stage directions call for a cigarette, and it’s a significant part of a scene, isn’t a ban on smoking a ‘prior restraint’ on the expression of ideas?

Could this conceivably have a chilling effect, by causing producers to NOT select material that calls for on-stage smoking?

Couldn’t it also cause playwrights to self-censor by excluding or altering scenes that involve smoking?

Should government be in the business of dramaturgy?

The director, choreographer, and set, lighting and costume designers of the original Broadway production of “Urinetown” have begun to pursue claims against two midwest theatre companies for allegedly copying their work without authorization.

Playbill reports that in response, the producers from one of the theatres has filed a lawsuit against the Broadway team.

The Broadway team’s complaints arose after Choreographer Brian Loeffler won an award for his work on a production of Urinetown at Chicago’s Mercury Theater. Loeffler also choreographed the other accused production, performed by the Carousel Dinner Theatre, in Akron, Ohio.

The Broadway team’s union, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers provides legal services to its members in such situations. Ronald Schechtman, the lawyer for the team, sent a letter demanding that Loeffler formally return the awards he’s won for his work on the show, and that the creative teams for both midwest productions provide a detailed accounting for their revenues, from which “an appropriate license fee and damages would be determined”. The Broadway creators threaten court action if these demands are not met.

In response, the Mercury Theater sent a letter denying the Broadway creators’ claims, and the Carousel Dinner Theatre has filed an action in U.S. District Court, seeking a declaratory judgment that its production was substantially different from the Broadway production, and did not violate any laws.

Copyright protection for elements beyond the script and music of a theatrical show is an unsettled and ambiguous area of law. There have been at least two previous, high profile cases involving Broadway productions later reproduced elsewhere. The first inolved a Chicago theatre’s 1994 production of “The Most Happy Fella”, which rented sets created by scenic designer Gerald Guttierez for the Lincoln Center. The Director sued, alleging that the Chicago production used so many details of his work, including dialogue changes, and restructured scenes, that it amounted to plagiarism. That case settled before trial, and the terms of settlement are confidential.

Some time later, Director Joe Mantello sued the director and producer of a Boca Raton, Florida production of “Love, Valor, Compassion” alleging that 95% or more of the production copied his original Broadway direction of the McNally play. A pretrial settlement was reached, with the proceeds being donated to Mantello’s union.

If the Carousel theater’s lawsuit proceeds through the courts, it may be the first case to adjudicate the issue of who owns the creative elements of a production. If the Broadway creators win, it will firmly establish that stage direction can be copyrighted..

On a side note, there’s another interesting wrinkle that will eventually need to be addressed: Under almost every playwright’s agreement for the production of a show, the playwright is guaranteed ownership of all material added by the producers (or, presumably, by employees and contractors of the producers). Meanwhile, Directors and Choreographers claim ownership of their contributions. So, if the Director and Choreographer’s contributions amount to “added material”, don’t those elements really belong to the playwright? (Assuming the playwright’s agreement pre-dates the hiring of the Director and/or choreographer). Wouldn’t a producer’s grant of such rights to the Director or Choreographer constitute a breach of the Production Agreement?