Archive for the ‘Insurance’ Category

Never Rent Your Theater To Cannibals

Thursday, July 14th, 2016

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: We have a non-profit theater company with our own performance space. We are looking for additional ways to increase our revenue stream within the terms of the lease. Two questions: Can a non-profit collect revenue for rented space or must it take the form of […]

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Understanding Legalese

Thursday, May 28th, 2015

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: Every time someone sends us a contract, its always a lengthy document with lots of legalese that no one understands. Is there anything wrong with having a simple, one page agreement that everyone can easily understand and will sign? A lot of people mistake “legalese” […]

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When Happy Cookies Lead To Bad Decisions!

Thursday, January 22nd, 2015

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    We recently had an incident where the Executive Director of an organization that presented one of our artists gave him a cookie with a controlled substance in it at a reception after the performance. Admittedly, the substance was legal in the presenter’s state, but it made the artist (who […]

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The Lost Art of Negotiation

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq.    Dear Law and Disorder: A longtime friend who is also a very successful artist who I greatly respect, asked me to do a project with him. He sent me a contract, but it doesn’t cover things like when and how I get paid. I want to mark up the […]

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The Band That Stood Up To God…and Lost

Thursday, October 24th, 2013

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder We recently has a situation where one of our groups showed up at a festival, but just before they were to go on stage, the police shut down the event due to an approaching electrical storm. The presenter had given the group a deposit for 50% […]

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We’ve Been Hacked!

Wednesday, September 4th, 2013

By Robyn Guilliams Dear Law & Disorder: Performing Arts Division, We are a small presenting organization, and we use an outside company to handle our ticket sales.  The company provides us with cloud-based software, which we use to process both online and box office ticket sales. We were recently informed by the software company that […]

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Independent Contractors or Employees: What’s In A Name?

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

By Brian Taylor Goldstein, Esq. Dear Law and Disorder: I hire musicians to perform, with me. Are they employees or independent contractors? I do not deduct taxes from what I pay them. Should I also make them sign a contract stating that they are independent contractors? Contrary to what many believe, the distinction between who […]

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