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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Imprimo
What is Imprimo and why should I join?

Imprimo is a new service for the visual arts community.

We use verified storytelling to establish a link between you and your work, which allows interested parties to approach your work with confidence.

We are the collective effort of organizations with an established record in the visual artists and rightsholder communities. Copyright protection and verified information are central functions.

On Imprimo, you can control how your artwork is presented online, and how the story of your career is told.

We are currently in beta and welcoming professional artists to join.

Accounts for galleries and others in the visual arts community are coming soon.

Who is Imprimo for?

Imprimo is a service for the visual arts community.

We help artists to showcase and catalogue their work online, be discovered by new audiences, and to protect their work from unauthorized use.

Galleries, curators and collectors can discover art and artists on Imprimo with confidence that the information they see is information they can trust.

Accounts for professional artists are available now.

Accounts for galleries and others in the visual arts community are coming soon.

Who is behind Imprimo?

Imprimo is the collective effort of organizations with an established record in the visual artist and rightsholder communities: The Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le front des artistes Canadiens (CARFAC), Copyright Visual Arts / Droits d’auteur Arts visuels (COVA-DAAV) and Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Quebec (RAAV).

It has been built by Prescient, the innovation lab of Access Copyright, with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Why haven’t I heard of Imprimo before?

We’re new here! And we’re delighted you visited.

Imprimo is currently in beta.

We’re rolling out using a phased approach, incorporating customer feedback along the way.

If you’re a professional visual artist, we invite you to create an account now.

Accounts for galleries and others in the visual arts community are coming soon.

Can I sell my art on Imprimo?

Imprimo is not an e-commerce platform today. It’s an artwork management tool that can help you make connections that lead to sales, and to receive fair compensation for any use or reproduction of your work. Our work-history timeline and certificates of creation demonstrate a trusted connection between art and artist that enables galleries and buyers to acquire with confidence and you to expand opportunities for your work.

So: we help you build connections and to demonstrate authenticity and value, but we don’t facilitate sales.

Should you plan to sell your art on another platform, you can link to your Imprimo profile there so prospective buyers have access to Imprimo’s trusted information about your work’s history and creation.

How can I use Imprimo to promote my work? How will it help my career?

Imprimo is more than a portfolio.

Each artwork record includes a Timeline of verified storytelling about the work, building trust by painting a broader picture.

Certificates of Creation register your claim to your work with a timestamped blockchain ID.

QR codes send interested parties directly to your Imprimo work record to find out more about you and your work.

Your artist CV is an interconnected document with supporting links and images. It uses your art to tell the story of your career and achievements.

Features in development include the ability to follow and be followed by other artists, more sophisticated collection management options such as private galleries, and accounts for galleries.

I’m an emerging artist. How will Imprimo benefit me?

Having a professional online presence will help you with everything from making artwork connections to nailing your next grant application. But managing an online presence can be time consuming, and creating your own website takes time and expertise.

On Imprimo, you can create an online profile and catalogue with a customized domain name, a smart-looking integrated CV, and tools for sharing the history of your works.

On Imprimo, you’ll be part of a growing community of artists, artworld professionals and art lovers, which can open doors and lead to new connections. Protection of artists’ copyright and trusted storytelling are a central function of Imprimo, which is the result of a collaboration between organizations with an established record in the visual artist and rightsholder communities.

I’m an established artist with a large catalogue. How will Imprimo benefit me?

Imprimo uses verified storytelling to make connections across your career, showing how your artworks and achievements are interlinked, proving your connection to your work, and protecting your creative rights.

Imprimo is currently in beta. Additional features coming soon include privacy settings – creating private galleries for curators or prospective buyers – more ways to organize your catalogue into portfolios, options to follow and be followed, and accounts for galleries.

How do I set up my Imprimo account?
How do I set up my profile?

Firstly: thank you for making the choice to become part of our community!

To get started, click “Join Imprimo” and follow the prompts to verify your email address and identity. Once verified, you’ll be able to add artworks, build your profile, and create your CV.

If you want to start building your profile before verifying your identity, you can, but the option to publish your information will be unavailable until you’ve been verified.

Why do I have to verify my identity to create a public profile?

The connection between you and your work is valuable. On Imprimo, every artist’s identity is verified. This enables gallerists, curators and other art lovers to approach you about your work with confidence, and you to know that any use of your work is being correctly and fairly attributed to you.

If you’re not ready to verify your identity yet, you can skip this step while you create your Imprimo profile, upload artworks and try out some features. However, your information will remain unpublished (ie. visible only to you) until identity verification has been completed.

How do I upload my artwork to Imprimo?

After creating your account, go to “My Artworks” on the Imprimo dashboard and click “Add Artwork.”

To make your work visible you need to publish it. The toggle at top right does this.

If you are already a member of the COVA-DAAV Image Bank, you can import images from there to save time.

Note that you can upload artworks and start building your profile before verifying your identity. However, you will need to complete the ID verification process in order to publish works on Imprimo.

How do I know if I have the right to upload a work?

A work can only be uploaded to Imprimo by the rightsholder.

How do I update my CV?

You can manually add events to your CV by clicking on the “CV” tab in your profile and selecting from options including education, solo exhibitions, grants, teaching credits and more.

A template guides you through the addition of each event.

Linking to the relevant artwork integrates that work with the CV event.

Uploading documentation such as photos of your studio process or an opening, or linking to a media interview acts as verification of your CV event.

Your CV also updates automatically when you add information such as grants, exhibitions or reproductions to an individual artwork record’s Timeline.

Does Imprimo support other languages?

Imprimo is available in English and French.

How do I get a verified check mark on Imprimo?

We verify every artist profile on Imprimo – it’s one of the ways we ensure your work is accurately attributed and secure.

Simply click “Join Imprimo” and follow the prompts to verify your identity and start uploading your work.

Imprimo is not allowing me to upload my works, what should I do?

Please contact us at info@imprimo.ca for further assistance.

I think my account has been compromised, what should I do?

If you believe that your account has been compromised, please immediately re-set your password and then contact us at info@imprimo.ca to investigate further.

Someone else has claimed my works on Imprimo, what should I do?

Please contact us at info@imprimo.ca to help dispute a claim on Imprimo.

How do I cancel my subscription?

Go to the subscription section of your account, click ‘Cancel Subscription’. Your account will remain active until the end of your billing cycle. It will then revert to being “Read Only” and your profile and artworks will no longer be publicly visible.

You can reactivate and republish your profile and works at any time by entering payment details.

I reactivated my account. Why isn’t my profile visible?

When reactivating a “Read Only” account, you will also need to republish your content.

Look for the “PUBLISHED / UNPUBLISHED” toggle at the top right of your profile page or artwork record and switch it to the green position.

Certificates of Creation and Blockchain
How does Imprimo use blockchain?

Imprimo uses blockchain technology to create publicly verifiable certificates that permanently connect an artist to their work.

When you create a Certificate of Creation in Imprimo, this event is registered by time stamping a decentralized blockchain ledger.

It’s a digital fingerprint – unique to each connection between an artist and their work.

What is a Certificate of Creation? What information does it contain? What can I do with it?

Many artists use certificates of authenticity as a physical receipt and a form of risk prevention. Certificates enable people interested in your work to approach it with confidence that you are the creator and the knowledge of when and where the work was created.

Imprimo’s Certificates of Creation contain information such as title, artist, dimensions, media type and the date and place of creation to offer assurance and security when an art buyer is purchasing a piece or a curator is planning an exhibition.

Certificates also include a blockchain ID: an incorruptible link between the artwork and the artist’s claim of ownership.

Our Certificates of Creation are issued with a QR code that links to the artwork record on Imprimo. Click “Download Certificate” from the administration page of any artwork to download as a pdf.

How will Imprimo protect my work?

Imprimo is spearheaded by organizations at the forefront of defending artists’ copyright. The platform was built with the security of your work as a central function.

From your profile to your artist CV, details on Imprimo are verified and cross referenced, creating a trusted network of information by and for the visual art community.

We use blockchain technology to create a unique and indisputable connection between you and your artwork, protecting you from unauthorized or uncompensated use.