Art KIT: Business and Legal Considerations

Art KIT : Business Skills for Artists
Workshops 4: Business & Legal Considerations

Sunday July 20, 2025, 1-3pm

Community Arts Workshop (CAW), 631 Garden Street, Santa Barbara

Art KIT (Know Important Tools) is a program designed for artists looking to expand their careers by learning the business end of the Arts. Art KIT is aimed at serving artists in Santa Barbara County and the surrounding area. Many artists either have never been exposed to basic business information, find it overwhelming to integrate it into their creative practice, or have been taken advantage of because they did not know how to value their work, thus creating a barrier to success. With these workshops, we aim to meet creatives where they are by using language that is relevant to their unique practices.

Art KIT: Business & Legal Considerations hosts three panelists, Annettee Jorgensen of American Riviera Bank, Ian Smith of Stradling Law, and Casey Summar of the Law Firm for Nonprofits (LFNP). Our experts are generously donating their time to discuss topics like copyright, contracts, tax structures, basic budgeting and small business loans.  Artists will learn to understand the basic parameters of legal ownership of their work by hearing from expert lawyers in the field. The workshop will give detailed guidance on how to protect your Intellectual Property, look at contracts discerningly, and to understand budgeting and loans. The afternoon session will delve deeper into more specific scenarios with breakout sessions.

About the Panelists

Annette Jorgensen, Vice President / SBA Business Development at American Riviera Bank, has 34 years banking experience specializing in Small Business Administration Loans to help people finance their dream of buying or starting a business, or expanding their business. Also, financing owner user commercial real estate with only 10% down. The SBA programs can be difficult to maneuver without the right lender to facilitate the process. Her strength is deciding on the right loan program and keeping everyone on track from application to closing to ensure funding occurs in a timely manner. Annette graduated from UCSB with a degree in business economics and has lived in the Santa Barbara/Goleta area for 44 years.

Ian Smith is the managing partner of Stradling Law Santa Barbara office. Ian practices in emerging growth companies, securities, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate law and business matters.  He serves on the boards of the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative, Friends of VADA, Notes for Notes, and is chair of the board of Santa Barbara Middle School.

Casey Summar is the managing partner of The Law Firm for Non-Profits where she helps good people do good things by handling the legal needs of nonprofits and their leaders. She serves on the boards of MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation and The Colleges of Law, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

WHO: Artists, Creatives, and Artist Groups
WHAT: Art KIT: Business Skills for Artists – Business Infrastructure
WHERE: Community Arts Workshop, 631 Garden Street, Santa Barbara.
WHEN: 1 – 3 PM Sunday,July 20, 2025

Special thanks to our sponsors

The Jeff Moody Family and Sullivan Goss American Gallery

About the Santa Barbara Arts Collaborative (SBAC) and The Santa Barbara Community Arts Workshop: Founded in 2007, the SBAC is a nonprofit organization committed to sustaining and growing all forms of the arts in Santa Barbara. Since 2014, it has worked to renovate and develop the Community Arts Workshop to provide affordable workspace for local artists, performers, and students and to serve as a hub for creativity, inspiration, and dialogue. Learn more at www.sbartscollaborative.org.