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Insurance
It is always a good idea to have insurance to protect yourself from loss. Insurance can be frustratingly expensive and seem not necessary, but it can protect you from financial suffering from loss of valuable tools, supplies, artwork, and building repairs.
There are at least two types of insurance to consider:
Liability coverage
Liability insurance can often be required as part of a lease. This protects you from lawsuits for true or alleged bodily injury and property damage. For example, if your work sink overflows and damages property downstairs, liability insurance should protect you.
Liability insurance pollicies will express the limits of their coverage like ####/####. For example $50,000/$100,000. This means that a single claim by one person is limited to $50,000. If more than one person is involved in the accident then each injured person can receive up to $50,000, however the total amount of payout cannot exceed $100,000.
Contents Coverage
This type of insurance covers you from theft or damage to your property. Sometimes it is difficult to get workspace to qualify for this type of insurance as it is typically more common for residential spaces, i.e. it is ideal for live/work spaces. If you are in a live/work situation, a homeowner’s tenant policy might be found that would combine homeowners insurance with incidental business coverage at a reasonable rate. Being able to recover the cost of damaged or destroyed artwork may be problematic. You'll have to justify your opinion of the market value of the artwork.
Finding Insurance
Contact several insurance agents and shop around. Raising deductible can reduce insurance costs while preserving insurance coverage where it is really needed – for the big loss.
If you would like to speak to ArtistLink about insurance providers that we know about, feel free to contact us.
If you thought this page was going to be about health insurance for artists, please check out the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Health Care Reform page.
Be sure to check out Square Feet Chicago's chapter on insurance if you want more in depth information about insurance and a glossary of terms.
