Artists’ estates conference

What becomes of an artist’s work and their wishes once they are gone? An artist’s legacy is far more than a body of work: it is a reputation to be protected, an archive to be preserved, rights to be managed, and a vision to be carried forward. Yet too often the question of how to safeguard it is left unaddressed until it is too late. This one-day conference brings together leading specialists to confront these challenges head-on.

Through a programme of roundtable discussions and individual contributions from experts in the field of artists’ legacies, the conference explores why proper planning matters and how it can be done well. Speakers will examine the practical, legal, and ethical dimensions of stewarding an artist’s estate from organising archives, managing copyright and moral rights, and authenticating works, to structuring foundations, navigating succession and taxation, and remaining faithful to the artist’s intentions.