An Open Letter to Artists Everywhere
Hello! We’re Dave Bass, Elizabeth Rivas, and Ronnie Walker — co-founders of the Art Legacy Institute, a newly established nonprofit with one clear mission: to help you protect your work and preserve your legacy.
The three of us served together as Special Agents with the FBI’s Art Crime Team (ACT), which was created in 2004 to respond to art theft, forgery, and fraud worldwide. For two decades, we worked on cases ranging from looted antiquities to stolen masterpieces to sophisticated forgery operations. Those experiences gave us a unique perspective on the threats facing artists — and inspired us to create an organization dedicated to safeguarding artistic legacy.
During our time on the Art Crime Team, we collaborated with scholars, historians, gallerists, tribal leaders, museums, auction houses, law enforcement partners across the globe — and, most importantly, with artists. We also spent countless hours confronting the people who commit art crimes: thieves, looters, fraudsters, and forgers. That rare combination of perspectives gave us invaluable insight into how these crimes happen — and, more importantly, how they can be prevented.
Those insights, combined with our deep respect for the creative community, led us to found the Art Legacy Institute. While our lens was shaped through the investigative world of art crime, our mission is shared with art historians, museums, gallerists, collectors, and above all, artists and their families: to ensure that artwork is protected and preserved for generations to come.
Art crime isn’t new — it’s as old as art itself. But today, with online marketplaces, rapid technological change, and the rising value of contemporary art, living artists are more vulnerable to forgery and fraud than ever before. We witnessed this firsthand in our FBI work, and it convinced us that a new approach was urgently needed.
That’s where ALI comes in.
At the Art Legacy Institute, we’re developing tools designed to help you:
Document your work clearly and securely
Establish provenance from the very beginning — with you, the artist
In 2025, we laid the foundation. In 2026, we’ll expand this work — refining and testing these tools with artists, gathering feedback, and building practical protocols for use. At the same time, we’ll continue bringing together supporters from across the art world who share this mission and are ready to help bring it to life.
If you’d like to stay informed or be part of this effort, we welcome you. Feel free to reach out directly, check back here for updates, or follow us on Instagram at @artlegacyinstitute_org.
And finally — thank you. Your work shapes our culture, tells our stories, and makes the world a more meaningful place. We’re here to help make sure it lasts.
Warm regards,
Dave Bass, Elizabeth Rivas, and Ronnie Walker
Co-Founders
Art Legacy Institute