Protecting Your Art on Display, Public Liability Insurance for Art Exhibitions Explained

How are you all feeling as you settle down to read this week’s missive from us here at Craft Insurance? Although February is in fact the shortest month of the year, for many of us it feels like the longest. However cold and wet November and December are, the expectation, even if it is somewhat hyped, and the twinkly lights of Christmas carry us through. Then in January a mix of left over Christmas cheer and the sense of a new year with fresh beginnings spur us onward. However, this has usually well and truly run dry by February and the wet, grey days can be reflected in our mood, in our patience with our loved ones and in our outlook. We make it through each day, but often with a sense of guilt that we’re not flying or achieving enough and head wearily to bed each night possibly feeling drained and dejected.

However, we want to offer a few suggestions to help you not only limp through to spring and the warmer, lighter days ahead, but to make the most of this often-dreary month. We can’t change the weather, but we can work with it and even find beauty within it. Not everyone is an artist but we can all paint a different scene in our minds! 

If you close your eyes for a minute and reflect, February might not seem so bad after all! Allow some images of this month of February to come to mind. Try and remember somewhere you’ve been in the past couple of weeks. Even if it’s just been walking down the street, have you noticed the days are stretching out and collecting children from some after school activities can be done in the daylight? Or have you seen any snowdrops bravely peeking their heads up above the cold, damp earth? And the freshness of blue sky when it does appear? If you’ve been out in the countryside, you may have noticed some aspects of your surroundings which, shrouded within the stillness, you would not have observed in the bustle and brightness of Christmas or the sunshine and colour of summer. Maybe you will have noticed anew the delicate silhouette of a bare tree, the tiny buds appearing at the end of sturdy twigs or the exquisite marking and colouring of our native birds.

Despite the grey days, or maybe because of them, we are able to observe some of the perfection of nature, to stop for a moment and realise that the world is gently waking up, in its time honoured and well-ordered rhythm. It is still waiting, with energy levels yet building, ready to burst forth with abundant life in a month or so. Maybe we can learn a little from this. Maybe we can acknowledge our own energy levels might be low at the moment and February might not be the month to make pivoting decisions; maybe we don’t need a magic fix, maybe we just need to keep plodding slowly until our heads peep above ground and we can feel the sunshine seeping into our weary souls again. Maybe what we need is to carve out time, however small, to be generous to ourselves, to observe the slowly awakening world around us, to sink into a cosy chair with a warm mug of tea and a good book, to bake a cake, to pick an interlude in the rain to go and splash in some puddles, to watch a good movie or share a good meal with friends.

Grey days such as these aren’t so bad and can be kept as mental images of hope over the next few weeks. For those amongst us who are artists, maybe you are creating your next range of pictures, ready for sale over the coming year and the grey February days are full of activity, finishing pieces. Although painting outside is most likely not an option, you will no doubt be planning to attend exhibitions or events in which to display and sell your artwork. If so, you will need to consider public liability insurance for art exhibitions. If you are new to the world of selling your artwork, insurance can sound a little overwhelming, but we can assure you that it need not be. In fact, it can be something straightforward enough that it can be done even when energy levels are low in February!

So, what is public liability insurance for art exhibitions? Public liability covers you for any claim made against you, a member of your staff or even a volunteer in relation to your business. It covers you for any mishaps or accidents which, with all the risk assessments in the world, you could not have foreseen. Even if it is not your fault, it will cover any compensation you owe and your legal fees. It is not address specific, so the only address we need is your correspondence address; you will then be covered for any exhibition you attend throughout the year.

Public liability insurance for art exhibitions will also cover you if you are teaching or demonstrating your art.  We often think of it as a sleep easy policy in that once in place, it is there as a back stop allowing you to concentrate on what is important, creating beautiful images and building up your sales.

As a family run business ourselves, we know the importance of ensuring you get value for money, that you don’t pay for something you don’t need. Our policies will probably not be the cheapest when you compare them with others, but they are comprehensive and we make sure you know exactly what is covered so you don’t have to second guess. Our policies also have a zero excess. And finally, as a family run business we like to communicate with each for our customers directly; no long call queues to speak to an anonymous advisor. So, if you’d like to know more, either drop us a line via the website or give us a call and either Sam or Naomi will be here to answer your queries.

As we head into another week, let’s be kind to ourselves and those around us as we gently move towards the end of February.