A Word to the Wise: "We're Not in the Sandbox"

A New York Times report about a contract dispute between a choreographer and the 92nd Street Y highlights how important it is for artists to have an outside eye scrutinize the agreements they enter into.  The Y commissioned Pavel Zustiak, a Czech choreographer, to create a work to be premiered at the Y's Harkness Dance Festival in New York City, and included a clause in its contract that forbade Mr. Zustiak from presenting any work in New York for a period of six months before and three months after the premiere.  Theaters frequently have this type of clause in their contracts with performers.  Mr. Zustiak ran afoul of the agreement when, thinking that the exclusivity provision applied only to performances of the Y-commissioned work, he scheduled a performance of one of his other works at a Manhattan venue less than three months prior to the scheduled Y performance.  Mr. Zustiak ended up paying the Y to guarantee at least $8,000 in box office receipts, and lost $1,200 in the process. 

The article also mentions the ordeal of choreographer Laura Peterson, who lost thousands as a result of not having a contract with a theater that cancelled a production of her show at the last minute.  The moral of the story is that artists need to put their agreements into writing and have someone qualified review them.  To quote one theater director: “From the perspective of an artist, you’re always thinking, ‘I’m so poor, how can anybody be taking money from me, that’s so mean.’  But it is a business; we’re not in the sandbox.”