Nonprofit creative art centers bring people and communities together, providing children and adults with a place to discover a new artistic passion, develop their skills, build community, and share their creativity.
Just like the artwork they help people create, every nonprofit art center is different — with different missions, specialties, and priorities. That means each art center has their own priorities when it comes to their insurance.
So, what do nonprofit art centers need most from their insurance?
We talked with several nonprofit art centers that NIA insures about their missions — and how those missions determine what they need most from their insurance coverage to ensure that those missions can keep going.
In their own words…
What do local nonprofit art centers need the most from their insurance?
Metropolitan Performing Arts (Vancouver, WA)
“Metropolitan Performing Arts has a mission to enrich our community by inspiring a lifelong passion and appreciation for live arts through education and performance opportunities; and to be a home where everyone is seen, heard, and valued.”
They offer classes and camps that provide expert training for children, adults, and seniors in acting, dancing, singing, and theater tech. These same performers and crews present professional theatre productions.
— Chulina Wheeler, Office Manager, Metropolitan Performing Arts
Village Arts and Education Foundation (San Diego, CA)
“Village Arts and Education Foundation provides art classes and summer art camps for children and adults, and serves the San Diego community, its visitors, schools, and underserved communities.”
They offer art classes each week, as well as summer camps, in a variety of visual media, taught by the professional artists working out of the Village Arts Center in Balboa Park. VAEF also supports local artists and groups who may not otherwise have the opportunity or space, to hold exhibitions of their artwork in their outreach gallery.
— Nancy Scheuermann, Director, Village Arts and Education Foundation
A-WOL Dance Collective (Portland, OR)
“We are an aerial dance center with a mission to embody the notion of ‘aerial without limits’ through the presentation of world-class performances, education, and training space. As a collective, we defy expectation, ignite inspiration, and foster creativity.
We offer aerial training space, adult recreational training, an adult pre-professional training program, a youth pre-professional training program, a professional gig performance group, and a professional performing training company.”
— Bethany Foran, Executive Director, A-WOL Dance Collective
Coastal Arts League (Half Moon Bay, CA)
“The Coastal Arts League is a grassroots organization that operates two art galleries. The exhibition program reaches artists across the region while our community outreach is local. The cost to participate in our programs is low or free, our staff are volunteers, and we fundraise to eliminate financial barriers to participation.”
— Jane Lewis, President and Exhibition Coordinator, Coastal Arts League
What did these nonprofit art centers need most from their insurer?
Reliability and transparency
“The most important factor is reliability and transparency. We’ve had bad experiences with a prior insurer in that they did not let us know they were discontinuing our policy with adequate notice. We were informed after the fact and had only a few days to try to find another insurer — even worse, they had allowed us to continue making payments even though the policy had already been closed.
We requested a refund of overpaid premiums multiple times and have not received a response, let alone our overpayments. During the life of the policy, it was near impossible to reach anyone or to receive a return phone call or answer to any of our policy questions.”— Chulina Wheeler, Metropolitan Performing Arts
Consistent coverage and easy renewals
For Village Arts and Education Foundation, the most important things are “proper and consistent coverage, as well as ease of renewal.”
— Nancy Scheuermann, Village Arts and Education Foundation
“Other agencies canceled our liability insurance twice in three years. We were paying 25 percent more for insurance — and received no training support.”
— Jane Lewis, Coastal Arts League
Broad and affordable coverage
“Price point and coverage. As a nonprofit, we wanted to make sure all of our risks are covered — and we have some odd coverage requests at times as an aerial studio.”
— Bethany Foran, A-WOL Dance Collective
How did these community art centers hear about NIA?
National search
“We searched nationally for an insurance product that had products that served all of our needs. When we discovered NIA, the service and response, coupled with the products and complete coverage offered, were all we needed. We chose to insure with NIA immediately — without hesitation.”
— Chulina Wheeler, Metropolitan Performing Arts
Broker’s recommendation
“We have been insured by NIA through our insurance agent here in San Diego for years.”
— Nancy Scheuermann, Village Arts and Education Foundation
“We heard about NIA through our insurance broker.”
— Bethany Foran, A-WOL Dance Collective
“I appreciated the personal attention of Virginia Fontana, our broker in San Mateo County. She was very patient, and I learned a lot. She outlined how we could improve our insurability and encouraged us to update our bylaws to match our current practice.”
— Jane Lewis, Coastal Arts League
Since becoming an NIA member, how has that relationship helped these art centers?
“We are treated like we matter…”
“The response time and variety of policies and coverage options are fantastic, and customer service is amazing. Our contacts have vast knowledge and do not try to sell us policies or add-ons we do not need — which is refreshing.
We have taken advantage of a few webinars and love the information we receive in newsletters and emails regarding fraud and risk management topics.NIA is a knowledgeable, honest, transparent, and reliable company that takes good care of its customers. We are treated like we matter, and the response time is unrivaled, as is the customer care.”
— Chulina Wheeler, Metropolitan Performing Arts
Useful resources and information
“There is a lot of useful information in the email newsletters that come out from NIA. I have also used the vast amount of volunteer documents that are included in NIA’s resources!”
— Bethany Foran, A-WOL Dance Collective
“Insurance is tricky to understand, and NIA is great when it comes to an easy-to-work web page. I also like the variety of offerings and help for nonprofits that NIA provides.”
— Nancy Scheuermann, Village Arts and Education Foundation
“Personal attention, educational opportunities, and consistent communication…”
“NIA provides personal attention, educational opportunities, and consistent communication. We receive frequent information about webinars and meetings to increase our understanding of issues around being a nonprofit organization.
We received a questionnaire in advance of our renewal date to verify our circumstances and the policy was renewed at the same rate as the previous year — which was 25 percent less than our previous insurer.”— Jane Lewis, Coastal Arts League
Art centers need an insurer that values their mission.
Why do nonprofit art centers get their insurance coverage from NIA?
It’s easy: NIA provides coverage that’s dependable and affordable, access to a team of experts that can help them navigate the insurance world, and resources that can help them thrive.
After all, when you’ve got a mission to achieve — you need an insurance provider that’s going to help you get it done, not get in your way.
