Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday signed a bill that creates a new business structure designed to support artists and creatives.
Senate Bill 133 creates Colorado Artist Companies, or A Corps, a new subset of limited liability corporations that guides artists through the complexities of setting up a business while ensuring they retain creative control over their work, which can include everything from songs, paintings and poems, to less obvious output, like creative coursework.
“We’re so often forging our own path in the creative sector, and it’s really exciting to see the Colorado state government really codify something that’s for artists,” said Meredith Badler, deputy director of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, which helped shepherd the bill through the legislature. “It really recognizes their unique needs and their unique benefits.”
Colorado is the first state to enact this new business structure, though other states like California are busy crafting versions with an eye toward its legislative success in Colorado.
Yancey Strickler, the co-founder of the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter who came up with the idea of an A Corp, said there are at least six other states lining up similar bills, and Badler said she’s been fielding calls from arts advocacy groups in California, Vermont and New Jersey.
So what is an A Corp?
When it comes to federal law and taxes, A Corps will be subject to all of the same rules as an LLC.
But a few defining characteristics set it apart from the typical LLC.
Those are:
Controlling shares. Artists must control 51% of voting shares at all times, guaranteeing them creative control of the company. Separation of governance. A separation between the economic rights and governance or creative control. In other words, investors can purchase shares of the company that grant economic benefits, like revenue or royalties, without having voting shares in the company (thus the artist retains creative control). A Corp shares. The A Corp share can be based on capital contributions or artistic contributions, as a way for artists to build equity in their companies while continuing to create the work the company is founded on. Artistic mission. Every A Corp has to define an artistic mission as part of its governance. IP protection. Potentially the most impactful characteristic of the structure, and the one that its advocates hope will drive wider industry change with regard to intellectual property rights. Put simply, artistic work licensed to the A Corp can never be transferred to nonartist investors or third parties. So if the company dissolves or is sold, the intellectual property rights automatically revert back to the artist owner.All of these things already exist — it is technically possible for an artist to set up an A Corp using the current tools of an LLC. But these stipulations are not the default, and often require extensive legal counsel to set up.
“We can really set the tone for the nation on how we take care of our artists, our musicians, our painters, our poets,” Rep. Matthew Martinez, a Democratic sponsor of the bill, said Tuesday at the signing event, which was held at the Sie FilmCenter in Denver. “This just really makes sense, this is a red tape-cutting bill.”
Introducing the new structure will cost the state $93,878 for fiscal year 2026-27, and the secretary of state has until July 1, 2027, to iron out implementation. After that, artists currently registered with other business structures will be able to convert their business to an A Corp, and those without business structures will be able to start applying.
Sarah Darlene, an independent artist with an LLC who testified during the bill’s Senate committee hearing, hopes to be the first artist to file, she told The Colorado Sun at the bill signing.
“I’m interested to see the ripple effects that this will have in the community, every artist is going to do something totally different with this business structure,” Darlene said.
“There could be someone who’s just a solo LLC painter that becomes an A Corp because they believe in that mission and power, but they’re not looking for investors,” Badler added. “I think there are others who are really going to stretch the limits and frankly push the creative industries.”
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