Thread: Insurance for the solo performer? & Covering Workshops? Troupes?

Do solo performers, who contract out to weddings, restaurants, special events, do you carry insurance?

What about those performers who teach workshops, but not weekly classes? How are those events usually covered? Do the sponsors cover it, is the workshop instructor expected to provide her own insurance, is it just worked out? Is insurance just purchased for the day?

I'm asking because I used to teach out of a studio and I figured my studio insurance would cover most eventualities, nothing ever happened to require it.

Now I'm taking a little break from teaching weekly classes, but I'm still involved with dance in other ways, I have my troupe and I'll perform and occasionally I'm invited to teach workshops from time to time. What do dancers without a studio do to cover liability? Is there such a thing as troupe insurance?

I can't speak to your issue personally, but here's the information to an insurance agent that I worked with for special event coverage. She was super helpful last year when I was having issues with my venue.

Allison Bishop
Heffernan Insurance Brokers
email: allisonb@heffins.com
main: (888) 500-HEFF
direct: (925) 295-2544
fax: (925) 934-8278

I don't know a lot about insurance, but here's my two cents from my own research.

If you're teaching in someone else's studio, your coverage is fairly minimal. I think some of the busier studios require instructors to carry insurance. The concern is if somebody gets hurt while you're actually teaching them. I think this would be the same regardless of if it's weekly or workshop.

But, the teaching venue itself needs to have insurance, especially for the premises. If you own a studio, regardless of if you rent it out or not, you'll want premises coverage, in case a random person walks through your parking lot and falls on a nail. I may be mistaken, but I think the same principle goes into a lot of homeowners' policies. Theaters or other performance venues should also have the same.

Also, it may make a difference whether you own the building or if you're renting and 'sublet' it (hourly or otherwise) to other instructors. I never got so far as to talking to a landlord, so I haven't discussed this, but from what I understand in getting quotes, the owner of the building is responsible, not the lessee. The question remains of what you should do if the owner doesn't have coverage and you're subletting studio space to others.

As for performing, I really know nothing about the options out there. I think there is a special umbrella of insurance for events, but that seems to be for the venue or the organizer, not the performers.

All of this is to say that it really depends on what you're doing and where you're doing it. In any case, everybody involved has a responsibility... the owner needs premises coverage, the teacher needs liability coverage in case someone torques her knee on a turn, and the students should ideally have health insurance!

Come to think of it, I second the sentiment to call an agent. I can't give recommendations because a lot of the ones I talked to failed to understand what exactly I was asking them.

I am a solo performer who performs for weddings, parties, corporate events, etc. and I carry performer's insurance. Most of the time, the corporate events want certificates removing their liability for anything relating to the performance. Not sure about troupe insurance. Most of the places my student troupe performs carries general insurance. When I work with a professional troupe, we each carry our own insurance anyway. I use K&K.