Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville: Fall 2009 Seminar Series

Arts & Business Council of Greater Nashville www.abcnashville.org
Fall 2009 Seminar Series

RSVP by either calling (615) 743-3055 or emailing vlpa@abcnashville.org. There are a limited number of slots per seminar, so the sooner confirmed the better.

Seminars cost $10 for ABC members and $15 for General Public.

If the seminar is CLE approved, ABC member attorneys seeking CLE credit pay $50, while non-member attorneys pay $75.

Starting a Nonprofit Arts Organization: Incorporation and the Application for Tax-Exempt Status
Tuesday, September 22 | 5:30-7:00 PM
Speaker: Baker Donelson Nonprofit Institute (Corey Stringer, Nicole James, Melissa Wibbens)
Location: The Arts Company

Are you considering starting a nonprofit? Are you committed to a mission, passionate about a cause, but a little more than iffy when it comes to the legal ins and outs of forming a 501(c)(3)? If so, this seminar provides valuable information about the pros and cons of starting a nonprofit organization – discussing topics such as articles of incorporation, bylaws, and building a Board, as well as the challenges of administrating, funding and sustaining a new nonprofit. The Arts & Business Council requires all applicants seeking Nonprofit Incorporation and Tax Exempt Status services through VLPA to attend this workshop before a volunteer attorney can be assigned to them.


Building a Business Plan: For Artists & Arts Organizations
Wednesday, September 23 | 5:30-7:00 PM
Speaker: Dick Sullivan
Location: Cummins Station

As artists pursuing our passions, we all too often artfully forget the business of business. But just as much as ideas and talent, a solid business plan is essential to the success of an individual artist, as well as an emerging arts organization. To ground creativity in economic potential, this seminar explains the fundamentals of authoring an arts business plan, offering every artist and arts organization a stable base to build on. Participants will engage in active workshop that articulates their vision. The workshop will focus on breaking down their long term vision into achievable short term goals and action steps that will move them in the right direction. Artist attending will be exposed to a methodology that is imperative to their success. Participants will leave with a workable 90-day plan that they can begin implementing the next day. This workshop will give artists the business foundation on which to pursue their creative goals.
Dick Sullivan is a certified business coach and firm owner with ActionCoach, the number 1 ranked business coaching firm in the world by Entrepreneur Magazine. Prior to joining ActionCoach, Dick was a Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Eckerd Drug, at the time a Fortune 500 company. Dick also started his own small business after the sale of Eckerd and grew it to over $8 Million in revenue. Dick helps small businesses and non-profits in Nashville put the necessary systems in place to become more efficient and profitable.


Protecting Your Creativity: Estate Planning for Artists
Tuesday, October 13 | 5:30-7:00 PM
Speaker: Stacey Schlitz
Location: Nashville Children’s Theatre

Whether you are at the "starving artist" stage in your career, or you have already begun to accumulate creative property, assets, and wealth, this course will provide you with the basics of estate planning. If you are entering into a life change, such as marriage, same-sex union,
divorce, beginning a family, or planning for retirement, you should ensure that your creative property and creative rights, as well as your loved ones, are protected. This seminar will discuss the basics of prenuptial agreements, wills, trusts, living wills, powers of attorney, and the additional planning that is necessary to protect your intellectual property, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, grand rights, merchandising rights, musical and literary compositions, master recordings, recording contract rights, publishing contract rights, and performance rights.
Stacey Schlitz, estate planning and entertainment attorney from the law firm of Drescher & Sharp, PC provides advice and planning to musicians, artists, and entertainers. Stacey graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2003 and received her LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in 2004.


Intellectual Property for Craft Artists
Saturday, October 17 | 2:00-3:30 PM
Speaker: Jon Rose
Location: Watkins College of Art, Design & Film

In Marketing Crafts and Visual Arts it’s written that, “The real challenge for artisans and visual artists (painters, sculptors and photographers) is not just to produce and market winning new products that cater to changing consumer tastes, but also to prevent — or, if unable to prevent, to deal effectively with — unfair competition or theft of their creative ideas.” This seminar, led by attorney Jon Rose, is created specifically to help familiarize craft artists with trademark, copyright, patent and other intellectual property concepts – ultimately making the “real challenge” for artisans real easy to navigate.
Jon Rose is an attorney with Bradley, Arant, Boult & Cummings. A graduate of Harvard’s Law School, Jon focuses his practice on intellectual property litigation and other commercial litigation.


The Debate Over the New Royalty for Performers
Tuesday, November 10 | 5:30-7:00 PM
Speaker: Sam Reed
Location: Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

The fight for a performance right in a sound recording that is currently being debated in Congress is the biggest legislative copyright fight in decades. Is this merely an attempted bailout for the recording industry and an irrational label response to their dramatic drop in revenues? Or are performance rights more about a fundamental fairness to US artists based upon the theory that they should be paid for producing something of value? Find out the very latest on this hot-button issue.
Sam Reed currently serves as the staff attorney for Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN), with a specific focus on intellectual property, music and entertainment issues. Before joining Cooper’s office, Reed worked as a lawyer at the Nashville-based firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.