Artelligence Podcast: Christy MacLear on Artists’ Estates

Christy MacLear, former Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, speaks about building the Rauschenberg Foundation at the Institute for Artists Estates Conference in Berlin last September. Rauschenberg put some thought into his own legacy before he died. From arts education to the environment, Rauschenberg wanted his Foundation to have an impact on several areas. It was left to MacLear to build a bridge between Rauschenberg’s interests and the community at large.

MacLear emphasizes the importance of understanding a foundation’s assets and creating create a “time horizon” in which goals should be accomplished. MacLear’s task was to understand the artist’s “values,” so she could, in turn, help the heirs and foundation decide what to do with the assets.

In addition, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation chose to make Rauschenberg’s copyright open to public use keeping with their belief in “art as a communicative currency.”

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