Artist Resources
Artist Insurance
It is commonplace now for artists and craftspeople to be expected to have public liability insurance. This can be a bit of a minefield trying to choose what is right for you so we have tried to put together a user friendly guide to help you make the right choice for your needs. Firstly its worth looking at the two types of insurance you could require. If you are a craftsperson or artist who does not exhibit then all you would require is public liability insurance. This covers you for any damage caused to a member of the public by one of your pieces. So, for example, if the glass dropped out of your frame and injured someone you are covered. For a more comprehensive explanation please read this article from axisweb
Public liability insurance expects you usually to be present with your items. Exhibitor insurance is more specific and is only required if you exhibit your work. Exhibitor insurance assumes you will not be with your work and covers you if your work is damaged or stolen both at an exhibition and, in some cases, also in transit to and from an exhibition.
If you do not take out exhibition insurance then any damage or theft of your work by a
member of the public is completely at your own risk and the venue you are exhibiting at bears no responsibility and is not required to offer you any recompense.
Exhibition insurance is completely different to your public liability insurance and, in most cases, must be brokered separately.
We have compiled a list of the most popular insurers. This list is by no means exhaustive and a quick Google search will show you plenty of other options
We have found one insurer that solely insures craftspeople who want to have a table at fairs or events with public liability insurance. This is stallholders.org.
Some insurance is provided through memberships such as a-n and The Scottish Artists Union. They both provide public liability insurance and public liability for exhibitions where you are not with your work but they do not provide actuall exhibition insurance. On initially reading their public documents it was unclear whether or not exhibition insurance was included so, on their advice, we contacted their broker directly and they clarified that it was only public liability for exhibitions rather than full exhibition insurance which would cover you for damage or theft. Please see their response here. A-n also have a list of conditions that need to be met for you to be covered. Please see here. Both these companies offer separate exhibition insurance either as a one off or for a longer period.
We only found one membership which provided both public liability insurance and full
exhibition insurance. This is the Society of All Artists and they recognise that there is a gap in the market for this and advertise that their insurance fills this gap. With them you can choose from several membership options which give you a variety of benefits and also public liability and exhibition insurance at various different levels. Thus would be most suitable for artists who also exhibit as it is a complete package and you can easily choose the option that best suits your needs and is compatible with the value of your art.
Finally there are multiple brokers who can cater a bespoke policy to fit your needs. The most popular of these are Ian Wallace and Direct Line
We hope this makes things clear and stresses the importance of making sure that you are actually covered in the manner that you think you are. We have found that its not very clear on many of the websites and the only way to be certain it to contact your provider directly as we did or broker insurance independently so it is bespoke to your needs.