My current project is only possible due to support from DACS, a non-profit visual artists’ rights management organisation (http://www.dacs.org.uk/). Visit the DACS blog for their introduction to my project: http://www.dacs.org.uk/latest-news/phd-dacs-oxford-internet-institute-ruskin.
Based in London, DACS has been working since the 1980s to promote the rights of visual artists, specifically in terms of advocating for fair payment for artists and working as a broker for a number of income streams for artists and their estates through mechanisms such as the Payback, Dutch Public Lending Right, Artist’s Resale Right, Copyright Licensing and Artimage initiatives.
I was lucky enough to visit the DACS office in Bethnal Green late last year, and found a really passionate team, almost all of whom seemed to be artists themselves, and all enthusiastically engaging with a range of projects and services to support visual arts practice.
If you’re not already a member, their website is worth reading in order to get an idea of the value they offer to visual arts practitioners as well as art market professionals, those searching for images they can use under licence, and beneficiaries and heirs of artists’ estates.
Talking of artists’ estates, the Art360 project is funded by the DACS foundation, and will enable the digitisation of the archives of 100 prominent artists, as well as offering legacy consultancy for the visual arts. You can find out more about this initiative at their information event on 19 Feb 2016 at Goldsmiths, University of London. More information on the event is available here: http://www.dacsfoundation.org.uk/events/art360-the-gift-and-its-legacy.
