CAA News Today
CAA Publishes Fair Use Issues Report
posted by Christopher Howard — January 29, 2014
CAA is pleased to announce the publication of Copyright, Permissions and Fair Use among Visual Artists and the Academic and Museum Visual Arts Communities: An Issues Report. Endorsed by CAA’s Board of Directors on January 24, 2014, the report is now available on CAA’s website (here) and will also be distributed in printed form at the upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago. The report was written by Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, professors of communications and law, respectively, at American University; and graduate fellows Bryan Bello and Tijana Milosevic. Aufderheide and Jaszi are the project’s lead researchers and two of its principal investigators. Their report summarizes 100 interviews of art historians, artists, museum curators, editors and publishers describing issues related to the use of third-party images in creative and scholarly work. The research was further informed by a CAA membership survey on fair use and a review of relevant literature and legal precedents.
This issues report reveals a situation in which uncertainty about copyright law and the availability of fair use, particularly in the digital era, has made many practitioners risk-averse, too often abandoning or distorting projects due to real or perceived challenges in using copyrighted materials. The report was read by the project’s Principal Investigators, Project Advisors, and members of the CAA Task Force on Fair Use, its Committee on Intellectual Property, and a Community Practices Advisory Committee. A full list of these individuals appears as an appendix in the report.
By identifying key concerns, the Issues Report makes an important contribution toward addressing questions related to the use of copyrighted materials and the understanding of fair use principles. It represents an important step in CAA’s work to develop and disseminate a Code of Best Practices for Fair Use in the Creation and Curation of Artworks and Scholarly Publishing in the Visual Arts. Over the coming year, CAA will host small group discussions in five cities (Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.) among visual arts professionals, guided by Professors Aufderheide and Jaszi, to identify areas of consensus in how fair use can be employed. These deliberations will undergird the development of a code of best practices, which will be reviewed by the project’s Principal Investigators, Project Advisors, members of the CAA Task Force on Fair Use, its Committee on Intellectual Property, and a Legal Advisory Committee. Once finalized, it will be presented to the CAA Board of Directors for approval and widely disseminated.
During CAA’s 102nd Annual Conference in Chicago (February 12–15, 2014), Aufderheide and Jaszi will discuss this project publicly with Anne Collins Goodyear, CAA president; Jeffrey Cunard, co-chair of CAA’s Task Force on Fair Use; Christine Sundt, chair of CAA’s Committee on Intellectual Property (CIP), and Paul Catanese, associate chair and associate professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College and chair of CAA’s New Media Caucus. The session will take place on Saturday, February 15, from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. at the Hilton Chicago.
CAA’s Fair Use Initiative is supported by a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It also received generous preliminary funding from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
News from the Art and Academic Worlds
posted by Christopher Howard — January 29, 2014
Each week CAA News publishes summaries of eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.
Snyder Pledges $350 Million to Save Detroit Pensions and DIA Artwork, but Hurdles Remain
A settlement of Detroit’s bankruptcy that would protect city retirees and the Detroit Institute of Arts’s collection appeared closer after Michigan governor Rick Snyder pledged $350 million to a growing rescue fund designed to bring all the major parties together in a grand resolution. US Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes also put his weight behind a grand bargain, saying in a separate hearing that he might not allow DIA artwork ever to be sold to satisfy city debts. (Read more from the Detroit Free Press.)
Where Are the Girls? Jemima Kirke on Women in Art
Jemima Kirke of television show Girls discusses how women have always made art, even if they’ve been absent from the history books and gallery walls. This short film made by the Tate investigates the role of women as makers, not just muses—from Lee Miller to the Guerrilla Girls. (Read more from the Guardian.)
Congress Takes Note
It’s time for Congress to pay attention to the abuse of adjunct faculty members, and the way their poor working conditions impact not only them but also their students, says a new report from the House Education and the Workforce Committee. While the report largely endorses previous studies on the subject, “The Just-In-Time Professor” document marks the first time Congress has so formally acknowledged a situation that adjunct activists have long deemed exploitative. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)
Class Divide on Campus: Adjunct Professors Fight for Better Pay and Benefits
Marcia Newfield and Rosalind Petchesky are both professors at the City University of New York. They both have advanced degrees. They both have been teaching for decades and are in their seventies. But there’s a big difference between the two: Petchesky is a distinguished professor, and Newfield is an adjunct. That means Newfield makes a fraction of what Petchesky makes. (Read more from NBC News.)
Why Buy the Cow? An Open Letter to the Full-Time Faculty of American Colleges and Universities
It is Saturday night, and as I write this, my young son sleeps; there is a stack of at least 140 papers stuffed into my Jane Eyre tote bag—the seams that cinch the handles to the bag are loosening, and will probably rip before I administer my last final in December. I bought it just this August, but as an adjunct professor this semester, I’m teaching twenty-two credits at three separate colleges. (Read more from I Will Start This Blog. I Mean It!)
Smartphones in the Classroom? Let Students Decide
Should students be allowed to use personal technology in the classroom? That’s a contentious issue for many instructors, myself included. Concerns about distraction—web surfing, Facebook checking, Scrabble playing—may prompt instructors to adopt policies that ban students from using laptops, tablets, and smartphones in class. Understandably so. (Read more from Vitae.)
The Myth of the Tortured Artist
No one blinked an eye when John Malkovich stooped to do Transformers 2. Jimi Hendrix’s reputation as a rock god hasn’t suffered for having been a session guitarist for the Isley Brothers. If your child opened a lemonade stand on the sidewalk you’d probably praise his enterprising spirit. So why is it so odious to some in the art world when an artist tries to make a little coin for himself? (Read more from the Daily Beast.)
The Fate of Sculptures at Museums around the World
Neil MacGregor and Thomas Campbell, the directors, respectively, of the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will now be able to make arrangements for the first two stops in the planned international tour of plum Burrell Collection works to help raise £45 million to repair and refurbish the Burrell Collection building, the roof of which has been left leaking for decades. The desultory nondebate took place during an international spate of damaged sculptures. (Read more from ArtWatch UK.)
