Since 1969, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts has been the leading provider of educational and legal services, advocacy and mediation to the arts community. Some of the artists/groups who have benefited from early VLA programs are Twyla Tharp, Tony Kushner, Wooster Group and Mark Morris, to name a few.

VLA serves artists and arts organizations in every discipline, including: acting, animation, architecture, book making, choreography, composition, three-dimensional design, costume design, craft and folk arts, dance, directing, fashion, film, graphic design, installation art, literary arts, modeling, multi-media, music, photography, playwriting, poetry, printmaking, screenwriting, sculpture, songwriting, theater, video arts, video game design, visual arts, and web design. 

Right: Mountain View by Blane De St. Croix, a 2011 A&L Fellow. Fabricated from recycled foam from the World Trade Center site initial foundation construction for Freedom Tower in 2003, as well as steel, wood, paint, dirt, concrete, stucco and other materials; installed at Socrates Sculpture Park, Summer 2011.

Among the many educational programs offered by VLA is the Art & Law Residency Program, which is now in its second year. The 2011 program brought eight artists, four writers, and a curator together for the 8-month program, which covers a vast array of topics including Photography, Film & Law; Property & Religion; Critical Theory vs. Legal Theory; Copyright, Trademark & Fair Use, and Constitutional Law, among others. Applications are now being accepted for the 2012 Art & Law Residency Program, with a deadline of October 17, 2011. Information.

As a warm-up, VLA is offering a Residency Symposium on Wednesday, August 24^th, in which the writers from the 2011 program will present papers investigating the role intellectual property plays in the construction and dissemination of images, and art as an alternative to traditional forms of justice and legal remedies.

The writers are Mazie M. Harris (“The phantasmagoria of inventions passes rapidly before us”: Litigating Photography as Intellectual Property); Lián Amaris Sifuentes (Art Beyond the Centerfold: Copyright, Cultural Restriction, and Playboy); Tracy Zwick (Case Study: Doris Salcedo The Convergence of Art and Law in the Construction of Justice. The respondent for the evening’s discussion is artist Ruben Verdu).

Art & Law Residency Symposium, Wednesday, August 24, 2011. Sherman & Sterling LLP, 599 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY. RSVP required by August 21.

The Art & Law Residency 2011 Programming will conclude with an exhibition opening at SculptureCenter on Thursday, December 8th, 2011. This exhibition will feature the work of the eight current residents. For more information please visit: http://www.vlany.org/residency_exhibition_2011.html

In addition to the Art & Law Residency Program, VLA also offers a regular schedule of workshops and symposiums as well as the Legal and Business Bootcamp for Arts Professionals.

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