Creators and Their Advocates on How
Writers • Photographers • Illustrators • Designers • Dramatists • Songwriters • Composers
Are Being Taken Advantage of and What They Can Do About It
PANEL 1(10 am CT, 9 am MT, 8 am PT)
(12:30 pm CT, 11:30 am MT, 10:30 am PT)
PANEL 3(3 pm CT, 2 pm MT, 1 pm PT)
Participating Organizations
About the Speakers
Panel 1 – Working for free/paying to work: Contests, crowdsourcing, and publishing platforms
Francesca Khalifa (Music Workers Alliance): Italian- Egyptian pianist Francesca Khalifa is an active soloist and chamber musician who has performed extensively in Europe and in the United States. She has won numerous awards in both the United States and globally. She is an activist for gender, racial and cultural equity in the classical music world.
Rona Siddiqui (Dramatists Guild): Rona Siddiqui is an award-winning composer/lyricist based in NYC. Her autobiographical show Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan, was produced Off-Broadway in 2019. She is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award, and the ASCAP Foundation/Max Dreyfus Scholarship.
Johnathon Strebly (International Council of Design): Designer Johnathon Strebly is the former Director of Creative Services for HCMA Architecture + Design in Vancouver, Canada. He currently serves as President of the International Council of Design. Prior to that, he was National Past President and National Ethics Chair of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada and past President of the Canadian Association of Professional Image Creators.
Michael Capobianco (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America): Writer Michael Capobianco has authored numerous works of science fiction, including four books co-authored with William Barton. He is a past President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and currently serves as their liaison to the Authors Coalition of America. He received the Service to SFWA Award in 2004.
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Panel 2 – Contracts and terms: The unethical, the unenforceable, and the unavoidable
Daniel Abraham (Graphic Artists Guild): A former professional illustrator, Daniel Abraham has served the creative community as a copyright attorney for over 30 years. As the Graphic Artists Guild’s Vice President for National Affairs, he successfully advocated to change US and California tax laws to benefit artists, and has submitted testimony to Congress, the Copyright Office, and two state legislatures.
Francesca Khalifa (Music Workers Alliance) (see description in Panel 1 above)
Thomas Maddrey (American Society of Media Photographers): Thomas Maddrey serves as General Counsel and Head of National Content & Education for ASMP. For more than a decade, he was a commercial and fine art photographer in his eponymous photography business Tom Maddrey Images. He also co-founded a fine art photography gallery in Dallas and created the Eclipse Photography Institute, dedicated to helping photographers learn about business and creative skills. He received his law degree from Southern Methodist University.
Ralph Sevush (Dramatists Guild) with the DG since 1997, is the Executive Director of Business Affairs & General Counsel, advising on legal and business matters related to theater, copyright, contracts, and free speech. An entertainment attorney (Cardozo, ’91), he was a director of business affairs on Broadway and off-Broadway productions, as well as a published author and produced playwright.
Umair Kazi (Authors Guild): Umair Kazi is the Director of Policy & Advocacy at the Authors Guild, where he guides the Guild’s policy agenda with respect to copyright legislation and administrative rulemaking, piracy, and collective bargaining rights for authors. He previously served as the Authors Guild’s Staff Attorney, where he counseled Guild members in a wide range of matters. His creative writing and translations have appeared in Pleiades, Inventory, Circumference, Guernica, Brooklyn Rail, and other literary journals.
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Panel 3 – Copyrights and Rights Grabs: How your work is taken, and how you can protect your rights
Daniel Abraham (Graphic Artists Guild): A former professional illustrator, Daniel Abraham has served the creative community as a copyright attorney for over 30 years. As the Graphic Artists Guild’s Vice President for National Affairs, he successfully advocated to change US and California tax laws to benefit artists, and has submitted testimony to Congress, the Copyright Office, and two state legislatures.
Edward Hasbrouck (National Writers Union) Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck is an award-winning journalist, author, and professional blogger. He has helped lead the NWU’s advocacy for writers’ rights and economic interests as Co-Chair of the Book Division of the NWU, as a member of the Authors Rights Expert Group of the International Federation of Journalists, and as a member of the board of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations representing creators of written work worldwide.
Stephen Doniger (American Photographic Artists): Stephen Doniger is a partner at Doniger Burroughs, a firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York that focuses on business disputes in general and intellectual property in particular, representing photographers, authors, fine artists, and clients in the marketing, fashion, entertainment, real estate and hospitality industries. He serves as counsel for the American Photographic Artists, and has been a featured speaker and contributing author for for a wide range of groups and publications.
Thomas Maddrey (American Society of Media Photographers) (see description in Panel 2 above)
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Presenter
Rebecca Blake (Graphic Artists Guild): Rebecca Blake serves on the board of the Graphic Artists Guild as Advocacy Liaison. A graphic designer by trade, she works as Design Director at Optimum Design & Consulting, a small web- and identity-design firm in midtown Manhattan. She also serves on the board of the International Council of Design.
About the Associations
American Photographic Artists, established in 1982, represents the interests of professional photographers, promotes the highest standards and ethics in the photographic and advertising community, provides educational resources, and fosters an environment conducive to achieving success in the industry.
American Society of Media Photographers, Inc. was established in 1944 to protect and promote the interests of professional photographers who earn their living by making photographs for publication, and it is the world’s leading organization of its kind.
The Authors Guild, Inc. which represents almost 8,000 published authors in many different genres, reviews members’ publishing and agency contracts, intervenes in publishing disputes and lobbies on behalf of all authors.
The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. is the only national professional association devoted to representing the interests of playwrights, composers and lyricists in the United States, and has over 6,000 members.
Graphic Artists Guild is a national trade association of illustrators, designers, production artists and other creatives who have come together to pursue common goals, raise industry standards, and improve the ability of visual creators to achieve rewarding careers.
International Council of Design (ICoD) is a world body for professional design, representing more than 120 organisations in 45 countries. Founded as Icograda in 1963, it is a non-profit, non- partisan, member- based network of independent organisations and stakeholders working within the multidisciplinary scope of design. The Council actively works to promote the value of design practice, thinking, education, research and policy.
Music Workers Alliance is an organization of, by, and for independent music workers. MWA’s shared purpose is to empower music workers, by engaging in collective action to create a community where music is valued financially and culturally, and music workers benefit and achieve dignity in our lives.
National Writers Union, the only union for freelance writers, advises members on contracts, represents members in grievances with the publishing industry and lobbies for legislation to strengthen authors’ rights in copyright and other laws.
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. is charged with informing science fiction and fantasy writers on professional matters, protecting their interests, and helping them deal effectively with agents, editors, anthologists and producers in non-print media.