Jim Grace
Jim Grace is the Executive Director of the Arts & Business Council. Previously he was the Executive Director of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts (VLA) from 1998 until 2008, when it merged with the A&BC.
As a follow up to the Estate Planning Workbook for Visual Artists (2014), the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston partnered again to create this guide for attorneys and executors assisting visual artists with estate planning and settlement. The workbook includes in-depth sections on legal matters pertaining to intellectual property and copyright as well as estate vehicles, such as wills, trusts, and artist-endowed foundations, among others. The legal details are complemented by perspectives from a diverse group of arts professionals, who offer further information and context on the constellation of entities and relationships that play a role in the legacy-planning process.
This workbook was produced in conjunction with the Foundation’s Creating a Living Legacy (CALL) initiative, which provides resources and tools for artists in the areas of studio organization, documentation, and the inventorying of artworks.
Estate Planning for Visual Artists: A Workbook for Attorneys & Executors
Jim Grace
Megan Low
Joan Mitchell Foundation / Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston
Publication
Estate Planning
The word 'estate' conjures visions of great wealth—something few artists will claim in their lifetime. What the two smart CALL Estate Planning workbooks offer is a wake-up call to visual artists to recognize the value of what they make, but even more essential, to place importance on creating a legacy plan that can be carried out after they die. Art market recognition is essentially unnecessary to the process of archiving and caring for the work. An artist, while still active, can create directives in the form of legal documents spelling out individual wishes for the future of the work.”
Margaret Rose Vendryes, PhD
A video introduction to this book is available.