Course Spotlight: Contracts, Conflict, and Negotiation in the Arts

Navigating the arts industry requires not only creativity but also a solid understanding of contracts, negotiation strategies, and conflict resolution. Contracts, Conflict, and Negotiation in the Arts is a key course in the ARAD Master’s program that equips students with critical legal literacy and practical negotiation skills. In this spotlight, we spoke with Dr. Lauren Van Haaften-Schick to explore how this course prepares future arts administrators to advocate for themselves, artists, and equitable business practices.

Course Spotlight highlights the diverse range of courses in the ARAD MA program, offering insights into their content, impact, and relevance for future arts administrators.

INTERVIEW

1. From your aspects and your multi-disciplined background, how does the Contracts, Conflict, and Negotiation in the Arts course complement the overall objectives of the ARAD program? Alternatively, why is this course important?

LVH: This course is designed to familiarize students with some fundamental types of contracts in arts, such as licensing agreements, artwork consignments, work for hire, and more. Most importantly, the course gives students a kind of critical legal literacy that empowers them to spot issues in agreements. It also gives them crucial tools for negotiation through workshops in which students are tasked with negotiating sample agreements and resolving conflicts. These skills are vital for not only working in the arts, but for ensuring that ARAD students can advocate for themselves, other arts administrators, and artists. 

2. Can you share some key topics or case studies covered in the course that students find engaging and essential for their future careers?

LVH: I always include a class session on the “Artist’s Contract,” a model artwork sales agreement from 1971 initiated by the New York conceptual art curator-dealer Seth Siegelaub. That contract was the focus of my dissertation research and it continues to inspire artists and attorneys to draft new contracts for artists’ equity today. It provokes perennially relevant questions: Who owns artworks—creators or collectors? Whose rights with regard to artworks should be privileged, and when? Students always enjoy debating this historical document and reflecting on the ways in which the art market has—or has not—changed over the last 50 years. Last semester, building on our conversations concerning artists’ rights, I developed a session on artist legacy issues including trusts and estates. I was really moved by how quickly the class reflected on the legacies of artists they knew personally, and how concerned they were that these artists’ wishes for their work might not be documented. I’m very excited to go deeper into this topic in the future. With artist estate management being a fast growing area of arts administration, I want our students to be well-positioned to navigate related issues with care, concern, and have a solid foundation of knowledge resources. 

3. How does the course encourage students to engage with current negotiation or working challenges in the arts, and what practical skills do they develop?

LVH: Students come away from the course with a solid understanding of common contract terms in the arts regarding everything from intellectual property to payment schedules. Many emerging professionals begin their careers lacking any familiarity with contractual language. As a result, they might not grasp the important implications of signing contracts that weigh against them (like giving away all of one’s intellectual property rights, which we are commonly asked to do!). Through this course, I want students to feel informed and be empowered to negotiate for the terms that will best support their professional lives and personal preferences. I also want students to see that sharing knowledge about contracts and equitable business practices can be a critical line of defense, and a form of mutual care.