Event Summary

A series for creatives of all kinds who want to take the next step in their professional career by creating their own business.

WALA Creative Entrepreneurs Series)

(Legal Issues for Creative Entrepreneurs)

WALA’s Creative Entrepreneurs Series is a series for creatives of all kinds who want to take the next step in their professional career by creating their own business. Explore the basics of forming a business for your creative endeavors, from deciding whether to incorporate as a non-profit or for-profit entity, to understanding copyrights and trademarks, to contract and negotiation skills, and finally to taxes and understanding the grants process.

• Session #1: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 ~ Tax Strategies for Artists & Creatives

(Select this date to attend this session)

Presentation and Q & A with:

Benjamin Grosz, Benjamin Takis, and Harrison Richards

"Pursuing your art as a business can be daunting, and one of the biggest challenges is understanding the tax laws. Between the many types of federal and state taxes that apply to your business, it is easy to make a mistake that can set back your business for years."

"Benjamin Takis, Benjamin Grosz, Jonathan Holbrook, and Harrison Richards each having active experience in the arts in addition to practicing as tax attorneys, will provide an overview of the federal income tax, a guide to the different business structures you should consider, as well as more advanced federal tax issues relevant to artists in the Washington, DC area."

Benjamin Takis is the founding attorney of Takis Nonprofit Law PLLC, a Washington D.C. law firm practicing in the fields of tax, corporate governance, employment law, and business transactions for nonprofit organizations.

Ben is also the co-founder of Sustainability Education 4 Nonprofits, an education website for nonprofit organizations, and a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit law, tax, corporate governance, and business management for a variety of organizations and educational institutions.

Visit: Takis Non-Profit Law PLLC

 

Benjamin Grosz is a partner with Ivins, Phillips & Barker, where he advises clients on a broad range of federal income, estate and gift tax planning matters, as well as employee benefits issues. Before law school, Ben started his own financial planning business. Prior to that he was a business manager at Capital One Financial Corporation, where he developed strategy and analysis for its credit card and banking businesses. His experiences in starting his own financial planning business and developing business strategy for Capital One help him understand the needs of clients ranging from entrepreneurs to large corporations. Although lacking the talent to be a professional artist, Ben spent years singing with various choirs and has had the privilege to sing at the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap, and the good fortune to participate in a singing “tour de France” with one of his college choirs.

Harrison Richards is an associate with Ivins, Phillips & Barker where he focuses on a wide range of tax, trust and estate, and employee benefits matters. Harrison graduated magna cum laude from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. While at Northwestern, Harrison worked on commercial-law reform in the Middle East with the U.S. Department of Commerce, drafted tax incentives for a major state green energy bill with the Northwestern Environmental Advocacy Clinic, and served as the Vice President of the Northwestern Tax Law Society.

Prior to law school, Harrison worked as an economic consultant, applying economic analysis in high-stakes litigation disputes. In his free time, Harrison expresses his creativity through baking and cooking.

Visit Ivins, Phillips & Barker online at https://www.ipbtax.com/

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The 2026 Fall WALA Creative Entrepreneurs Series is FREE for *WALA members.
*$20 per workshop for non-members.

#WALASPRING2026

WALA programs and activities are sponsored in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities

Event Details

• Date

  March 31, 2026

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• Time

  11:00am - 1:00pm

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• Venue

  Online