Art studio insurance.

December 9, 2011 1:33 PM

I'm renting a space which I will be subletting out to other people as artist studios. I would like to get liability insurance on the space that covers damage to the space and personal injury. I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what I need. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing?

I will have a studio there and three other people will have studios. It's a commercial space that I'm renting from a management company. The management company said that they strongly recommend that I get insurance.

One recommendation that I've had is to require all the subletters to get liability insurance themselves. This sounds a bit excessive to me. Basically, I don't want to be held financially responsible for anyone who comes in and hurts themselves. At the same time, I don't want to spend a bunch of money. The insurance will be in my name as I'm not any kind of company. I'm in Brooklyn.

posted by degoao to Law & Government (2 answers total)

Sorry I can't be of more help, but I had to get studio insurance for my space across the Hudson in NJ. My insurance is about $700/yr but those rates were dependent a lot of factors- including the requirement that I was insured against damage to other tenants for $100,000 (higher!) and whether anyone else was using my studio regularly (no, so lower!). I had a little sticker shock, but my rent's so insanely low for the size of the space and desirability of the studio that it's still worth it.

I originally contacted Fractured Atlas in NYC to get a quote, but they ended up finding me a plan that costs as much as I'm paying now, and without all my equipment being insured. However, I'd still contact them for a quote that's specific to your situation because I'm assuming your's is a situation they see a lot and they might be able to tell you what your options are.

More info on liability insurance for visual artists from their website.
posted by stagewhisper at 3:59 PM on December 9, 2011

I've had to deal with this when helping to set up ALTSpace, because our landlord required us to have a $1 million property damage liability policy. We also opted to get a personal injury liability policy because it was really cheap - like $20/month, I think. No-brainer.

Not really sure what information you need. It isn't as hard as it sounds; you just go talk to an insurance broker, tell them what you need, look over the quote, and add or remove as necessary. They've done this before and know what is customary.
posted by Mars Saxman at 4:47 PM on December 9, 2011