Public liability insurance for artists
£15 million of cover.
£3 a month.
Certificate today.
Someone has asked to see your insurance before you can install, exhibit, sell, or take on the work at all.
Axis membership includes £15 million public liability, products liability cover and £5 million professional indemnity.
You are covered from the day you join, whichever way you pay, and your certificate is in your member dashboard straight away.
Get covered today, £3 a month
Check the detail first, download the policy summary (PDF).
£15 million cover, the highest available to UK artists · Underwritten by Hiscox · 13,000 members
Will it cover what I have been asked for?
£15 million public liability cover is fast becoming the standard. It is already appearing in commissioning packs from local authorities and public bodies, and more are following.
No artist should lose work over a number. So we cover you to £15 million, the highest available to individual artists in the UK.
Why is it only £3 a month?
Because we are a charity, and we are not selling you insurance.
Axis buys one policy for the whole membership and splits the cost between us. Bought on your own, cover like this runs into the hundreds. Shared out, it is £30 a year.
Compare it with any other artists' membership that includes insurance. More cover, less money.
Does it cover what I actually do?
Artists push at the boundaries of what a practice is, and most insurance is not written with that in mind. Ours is.
It covers the work of making and showing art, and of working with artists. Performance and live art are covered as standard, which plenty of policies exclude outright. So is selling at fairs and markets, which needs products liability, something many policies leave out.
We've got you covered wherever the work takes you: a gallery, a studio, a fair, a festival, a commission on site, a school, someone else's building.
How fast can I get my insurance certificate?
Today. Join now and it is in your dashboard by the time you get back to your inbox.
Most artists find out they need insurance about a week before the deadline. Some find out on the morning of the install. Either is fine. We have got you covered.
Someone to call, and people who understand
Free legal, tax and counselling helplines, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Advice on contracts, employment, prosecutions, discrimination and health and safety. Tax advice, which is worth knowing about every January. And a confidential counselling line, on its own number, for when things are hard.
You also get a community of artists who know the work, and know what you are dealing with. And you can always talk to us. We are a small team and we answer our own emails.
The detail
£15 million public and products liability. £5 million professional indemnity, per claim, with legal costs paid on top rather than taken out of the limit. £250 excess. Underwritten by Hiscox. Open to artists across the UK.
It also covers damage to premises you lease or rent, which matters if you are working in a temporary studio or a borrowed space, and goods you sell or supply, including refreshments if you are running an event.
Cover runs for as long as your membership does. It works on a claims-made basis, which means a claim is handled by the policy in place when the claim is made, not the one in place when the work happened. So keeping your membership current is what protects the work you have already done.
Some venues and commissioners ask for more than public liability, particularly for work with children or vulnerable adults. Check what your contract requires, and get in touch if you want a hand.
Who decides what your cover looks like
Axis is a charity, funded by our members. No owner, no shareholders, no funder with a view.
Five of our eight trustees joined Axis as artists first. They were members before they were trustees. The people deciding what the insurance covers, and what it costs, have needed it themselves.
Around 13,000 artists are members. Almost all of them joined because another artist told them to, which is the only endorsement worth having, and exactly how we would want it.
More than insurance
Axis exists to support artists, and the insurance is one part of that.
Membership connects you to around 13,000 artists and art workers across the UK, which is how new connections and collaborations tend to start. You get opportunities and jobs, awards you can apply for, resources and templates for the parts of a practice nobody teaches you, and you can apply to use Vacant Space when you need somewhere to work. You get first sight of our programme, including Mental Health for Artists and Back to School.
Move up to Professional membership and you can also apply for bursaries and fellowships, get mentoring, and have a public profile that sends people to your work.
We are a charity, funded by our members, and everything we do is for artists.
Get covered today
£15 million of cover. £3 a month, or £30 a year. Concessionary rates if cost is a barrier.
Does an artist need public liability insurance?
There is no law requiring it, but in practice you will be asked for it. And it helps protect you. Galleries, venues, commissioners, festivals and fair organisers almost always make it a condition, and most want to see a certificate before you install or set up.
How much is public liability insurance for an artist?
Bought directly from an insurer or broker, cover for an individual artist runs into the hundreds of pounds a year. Through a membership organisation it is far cheaper, because the cost of one policy is shared across everyone.
Axis membership, including £15 million of cover, is £30 a year or £3 a month.
What insurance do I need as an artist?
Public liability, which covers injury or damage to other people and their property. Products liability if you sell your work, which covers you if something you have made causes harm. Professional indemnity if you take commissions or give advice, which covers claims that your work fell short of the brief. All three come with Axis membership. Insurance for your own artwork, tools and equipment is separate and you would buy that individually.
Do I need public liability insurance to sell crafts?
Most fairs, markets and craft events require it before they will give you a stall, and many ask for proof when you apply. Selling also brings products liability into play, which covers you if something you have made injures someone or damages their property. Axis membership includes both.
Commissioning artists or running a fair?
If you ask artists for public liability cover, add a line telling them where to get it.
Ours is £15 million, for £3 a month, with a certificate the same day.