Insurance company to end coverage for artists working at heights

Public and commercial galleries, as well as council projects that require artists to have their own insurance may be facing bigger challenges in the future, as QBE will no longer cover artists working at heights of more than five metres, and those working at lower heights face extra premiums of up to $600 per annum.

The change to the insurance policy may see Australian artists left unable to work on large-scale and public art projects. While any artist working below five metres will now pay more, artists and arts workers who work at heights higher than five metres will no longer be eligible for this insurance coverage.

QBE’s Premium Plus insurance policy brokered by Local Community Insurance Services (LCIS) will see three key changes from 1st October, although it will not affect artists until their 2023 policy is up for renewal.

According to Penelope Benton from the National Association for the Visual Arts (Nava), the carve-outs would effectively prevent artists doing public art and mural projects or installing their own work in galleries.

Benton advised the changes are devastating for many of the 6,000 artists who rely on the insurance policy and noted “what it will mean is there’s just a lot less work happening, particularly mural work, which has been thriving for several years.

The carve-outs would also affect professional art installers, and emerging artists and curators, who generally install their own work.

Benton added that NAVA has supplied the widely held policy for artists through QBE for more than a decade, and in that time there has not been a single public liability claim related to working at heights.  

Artist Texta Queen has worked on a number of art projects at heights above five metres including the seven-metre-high mural for locals in Brunswick, Victoria and the more recent four-metre-high mural in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir - one of five giant public artworks installed for the Darebin festival Fuse.

Benton advised that because projects like Texta Queen’s murals don’t happen often, the extra premiums would mean the insurance is no longer affordable adding “The insurance will cost more than they’ll be earning for the gig, which will mean a lot of people will just not do it. Many are just going to be completely priced out of insurance and alternatives are usually a lot more than triple the price.”

Image top: Bute silo, Gold winner of the Best Rural Art category at the 2022 Awards. Artists - Scott Nagy and Krimsone. Credit: West Barunga Council; image above: Artist Texta Queen working on Brunswick mural in 2020. Credit: Texta Queen