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CARFAC Ontario’s quarterly newsletter D ISPATCH V OLUME 21 - I SSUE 3 - S EPTEMBER 2015 NEGOTIATION FOR VISUAL ARTISTS Photo credit: CARFAC National Features: The Art of Negotiation: Interview Adam Freedman from Torys | Overcoming Cognitive Biases While Negotiating in the Arts Plus: CARFAC Ontario Members’ Exhibition Listings | Grants Calendar | Keeping you connected ... Local News from Across the Province Content: Executive Director’s Report | P 1 President’s Report | P 2 The Art of Negotiation: Interview with Adam Freedman of Torys | by Bri Salmena | P 3 Your donations help keep us Overcoming Cognitive Biases While Negotiating working for you. in the Arts | by Venessa Harris | P 6 As a registered charity, we can issue Keeping you connected ... Local News from Across tax receipts the Province | P 8 for your donations. CARFAC Ontario Members’ Exhibition Listings | P 10 www.carfac.ca Grants Calendar | P 16 CARFAC pdf_Half Page-8.5x5.5 12-09-11 3:31 PM Page 1 We make banking flexible At Creative Arts Savings and Credit Union, we offer the services banks do, with one important extra: Flexibility. We understand the special circumstances of the self-employed artistic community in a way that traditional banks don’t. We also understand that you have different financial needs at different times of your life. Take a look at our services. Then give us a call, visit our website, or drop into our Church Street offices. You’ll find all the same services the big banks offer, and you’ll feel good knowing you’re dealing with a financial institution that understands your unique needs as a member of the artistic community. 625 Church Street, 1st Floor • No-fee chequing accounts • Mortgages Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1 • No-fee savings accounts • Loans (personal, auto, etc.) t: 416.642.6749 • Tax-Free Savings Accounts • Line of Credit toll free: 877.643.3660 • Debit cards • Overdraft protection f: 416.640.3517 • Business accounts • Online banking e: [email protected] • Investing (GICs, Term • Mobile banking w: creativeartscu.com Deposits, RRSPs, RRIFs, etc.) • Telebanking ...and more Executive Director’s Report It’s hard to believe the Staff has also been working hard to put together summer is over and that the a fall webinar series which will take place every leaves have already started other Wednesday from October 14 – December to turn colour! The past 16. They cover a mix of popular webinars from three months have whizzed previous years and new topics we felt would be of by, and I’m delighted to great interest to members. Please see page 9 for give you an update on the more details. many things that have been occupying our time and We’ve also been working to provide more grant thoughts here at the office. deadlines to the 2016 Day Planner. We should be ready to take orders soon – please look out for The development of four best practices toolkits notification! for CARFAC Ontario’s Strengthening the Sector initiative has been going well. We are on track We are also preparing to move our office to another to complete all four toolkits by the end of March unit in the same building. As of October 26, we will as planned, with a few likely to be ready ahead be in studio 372 at 401 Richmond Street West. of time. The toolkits will be valuable resources for establishing codes of practice in the areas CARFAC Ontario will also have a booth at the of Artists and Charitable Auctions, Public Art ARTPRENEUR Ottawa Conference taking place Commissions, Gallery Archival Practices, and October 17. If you are there, please come by and say Artists and Galleries. hello. Long-time member and unofficial ambassador David Jones and staff from CARFAC National will be Other major projects on the go include the creation drumming up new memberships, selling publications, of an online fee calculator. CARFAC Ontario has and raising greater awareness about artists’ rights to been working closely with our partners at RAAV, those in attendance. CARFAC National, and CARCC to ensure that the calculator is reliable and easy to use. We sent And finally, I hope you will all make a point of going out a call for beta testers over the summer and out to vote in the federal election on October 19! we thank everyone who stepped forward to give It promises to be a historic vote and I look forward the calculator a try and provide feedback. The to working with CARFAC National and our other response has been overwhelmingly positive and provincial affiliates on reaching out to Members we hope to have this valuable tool up and running of our 42nd Canadian Parliament to advocate for in the coming months. the Artist Resale Right and support for the arts and artists in the future. Our 2015 AGM and panel discussion on Negotiation for Artists took place on Sunday, September 27 Sally and we will have a full report about the day in the next issue of Dispatch. We are moving but not going far! Our new address as of October 26, 2015: CARFAC Ontario 372 - 401 Richmond Street West Toronto ON M5V 3A8 Archival Photo credit: The Move , February 13, 1987 in Toronto | Content: The move from Mowat Ave. to Bathurst St. | Photographer: Doreen Dotto | 1 | President’s Report One of CARFAC’s raisons a commercial gallery. I signed a contract that d’être is to educate and support outlined the jobs surrounding my upcoming artists in the business around exhibition; which party was responsible for what their creative art making. So and the time frame for payment. All went relatively a professional artist’s career smoothly until the payment for sales part. Months should be thought of in terms after the agreed upon time, I still had not received of a small business. A major payment. After several more visits and a few more part of a successful business months, I finally lost my temper and threatened of any kind, is negotiation. them with ... I don’t know what. I had no knowledge Negotiating with galleries, studio rental agencies, of any kind of recourse. Luckily I did receive my corporations and government bodies who cheque, although that adversarial position was commission public art, publishers, even other very distasteful. artists, does not come naturally to most artists: it is a skill that must be developed. My more recent experience was with an artist-run centre in a city outside Toronto. This time I was In this issue of Dispatch, we are focusing on how more than aware of CARFAC and was able to use to negotiate in your practice, how to prepare for the legal resource of one of the lawyers at Torys. it and when and how to bring in a professional to The issue revolved around whether an agreement help you. The format is a question and answer of understanding via email constitutes a legally between Bri Salmena and Adam Freedman who binding understanding of intent. With the help of specializes in corporate and securities law at the Torys lawyer, I discovered that the answer is Torys LLP. Torys has been remarkably generous yes it does. He was able to help me draft letters in their relationship with CARFAC over the years. of negotiation and come to a decision regarding They not only established a Pro Bono committee the situation with an understanding of the potential that assists artists with their legal issues, but they consequences of various scenarios. also sponsor the webinar series that we do every fall (check out our website for details about when Receiving knowledgeable and sanguine pro- this fall’s series begins). The second article is by fessional assistance in negotiations is crucial Venessa Harris, who analyzes the psychological when you as an artist find yourself in a contractual aspects of the negotiation process and how the bind. And psychologically preparing yourself with outcome of the negotiation may alter depending on an understanding of cooperative and competitive the artist’s understanding of their own assumptions incentives, as outlined in Venessa’s formulation, is about the other. indeed very helpful upon entering such negotiations. Read the articles and remember, you have rights Adam Freedman’s discussion focuses largely on and a resource in CARFAC. negotiation and contracts. I can relate. Twice in my career I have been embroiled in contract disputes. Have a productive fall. When I was an emerging artist and wasn’t yet aware of CARFAC, I developed a relationship with Yael Starving Artist www.canvasfoundation.ca | 2 | The Art of Negotiation Interview with Adam Freedman of Torys by Bri Salmena Adam R. Freedman practices ally beneficial situation. That’s really the outcome corporate and securities of negotiation. People think I need “x” so I am law at Torys LLP in Toronto. going to argue my way to “x” and the other party Adam is also a proud needs “y” so they are going to argue their way to member of the firm’s Pro “y”. But really the idea is to create a value, per- Bono Committee and has haps a scenario you didn’t envision in the negotia- been advising artists on a tion where both parties are victorious and are pro bono basis for more happy with the result. than six years in connec- tion with their legal queries. What should be the mindset of a person negoti- ating a contract? What are the key elements of successful The mindset should be a prepared one, and it’s negotiation? important that someone has proper advice in place. That is why CARFAC and VALCO (Visual I’d say there are a few key elements of successful Artists’ Legal Clinic of Ontario) are so great negotiation.