Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 133 (SB26-133) into law on June 2, creating a new type of limited liability company called an Artist Company. The bill, authored by state senator Jeff Bridges and inspired by Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler's TED Talk, provides artists with a legal structure that treats their work as capital contributions rather than generic assets, allowing for financial leverage such as loans. It requires 51% artistic ownership and ensures that upon dissolution, rights to artistic work revert to the artist.
This law matters because it formally recognizes artists as a labor group and addresses the power imbalance between individual artists and larger institutions. By offering a ready-made template for retaining intellectual property rights and enabling equity sharing, the Artist Company framework gives visual artists, dancers, musicians, and writers new fiscal tools to interface with capitalism while maintaining control over their work. It represents a bold step in adapting legal recognition to the unique needs of creative professionals.