Dear Karen,
One of the shows I recently had work in was one
of which I was also a lead planner on. The
gallery was one of our sponsors, and we held a
series of events there and in the community that
were associated with the event. The gallery had
some insurance coverage and were vague about
details, as you say. We had ongoing discussions
with their board and finally paid $100.00 through
their policy so that the show was properly
covered. We got a private donor to cover the
cost. The entire undertaking we ran as a pilot
project that we could document and cite as an
example to use in grant applications for future
exhibits, and we plan to discuss the insurance
coverage with a variety of venues before applying
for grant coverage so that we have an idea of the
range of costs and possible insurance coverage
scenarios we would face for any exhibition held in that venue.
This, I realize, is perhaps a less than helpful
example. One could potentially, however,
negotiate to pay additional insurance through the
venue's policy to cover one's own work. It might
also be an opportunity to start dialogues with
various venues on the issue. Just because they
"have never had an incident", it is worth
exploring. This particular gallery had someone
hurl a block of concrete through one of the front
windows the month prior to our show. No security,
no witnesses, no idea why. No artwork was stolen
or damaged, but....Our show too had some pieces
of significant value, so we took the extra steps
to have multiple conversations and work out this arrangement.
We as artists pay a bit for the privilege of exhibiting, for sure....
Most sincerely,
Sara
At 11:39 PM 10/18/2016, Karen Ackoff wrote:
>I’ve been entering a few exhibitions lately,
>and it’s troubling to find that more and more
>galleries do not insure the work while it is in
>their possession. They want the right to use
>your images in their publicity materials, some
>require the work be for sale and of course they
>get a percentage of the sale price, and there is
>an entry fee. All of that is fine and I am used
>to paying shipping/insurance there and back. But
>they don’t insure it while it is in their possession.
>My choice would be to get private insurance or
>not to submit. I did look into private
>insurance, but my homeowner’s will only insure
>artwork up to $1000, and my work is priced
>higher than that. I’m sure I could pursue
>other insurance companies, and I’m sure it
>wouldn’t be cheap. If I can submit a print,
>then insurance is less of an issue, but there is
>still the cost of the frame and museum/plexi (no glass as the work is shipped).
>
>The galleries profit from the exhibition and
>take no responsibility other than “reasonable
>care” (which is conveniently vague).
>
>I’m surprised that this seems to be more and
>more common. Wondering what you have
>experienced, and what you think about this.
>
>Karen
>
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