Circus artists latest to be caught up in changing insurance market

High on the worry-list of many in the arts right now is the changing nature of the insurance market which is bringing new cost burdens for some, and a series of tough decisions for others.

Most recently, the sharpest pain has been felt in the live music space, where a host of independent live music venues are reporting their majorly increased insurance costs are pushing them to the brink of closure.

But now there is another sector to add to the list, and it involves artists who, just like the music industry, are feeling unfairly caught up in a tightening insurance market where many insurers are recasting their views on what they deem as ‘high risk’.

Long-time insurers exiting the market

Georgia Deguara is a Broome/Rubibi-based circus artist who runs her all-female circus company YUCK Circus alongside her freelance work as an independent circus artist for community arts organisations in her region.

Deguara says her current professional insurance cover – both for her company, and for her work as an independent performer – is proving increasingly difficult to manage, as she watches insurers either leave the circus scene altogether, or tighten the kind of insurance cover they are willing to offer.

The artist describes her recent experience of having her company’s broad cover insurance provider call her one week before the renewal date of her policy, to tell her they would no longer be insuring circus-related businesses like hers, so would not be renewing her policy.

‘We had been with that insurer for five years, so it was a shock,’ Deguara says, adding that while she has been able to find a new policy with a different insurer, it has not been an easy switch.

‘Our current policy is more limited than previously, and I can’t help but feel like I’m not actually covered for all the things I need,’ she explains.

‘It just feels like our insurance options are narrowing, and the policies being offered are no longer as suitable for our [bespoke] needs.’

Evidently, Deguara’s experiences are not uncommon in the circus sector right now, as others also see their policies changing for no apparent reason, and in ways that are placing new costs and limitations on their small, independent enterprises.

Surging costs and restrictions on activity

Adam Davis is a stunt performer, circus artist and rigger who runs his own company Adica Arts, and has, like Deguara, been shocked by recent changes in the insurance space.

After years of paying an annual fee of around $2500 for his broad cover entertainment insurance policy, the cost of that policy went up to $7700 last year, which is a price Davis could not afford to pay. Subsequently, he has had to change his insurance cover to a cheaper policy which places restrictions on the kind of work he can do. 

‘Many circus artists will be familiar with the “11 metre height rule” that insurers impose as the height limit for the work we can do,’ Davis tells ArtsHub.

‘That’s one well-known limitation, but for me, what is worse, is that my new policy says I can no longer build equipment, which means I can no longer supply circus artists with the kind of bespoke equipment they need to do their work.’

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Davis says the bespoke circus equipment-building arm of his company is significant, and the new restrictions will likely cost him $20,000 worth of business a year. But what concerns him most about this new situation are the ripple effects that will soon be felt across the sector more broadly, if the insurance market continues down its current path.

‘It’s going to hit the emerging independent artists first,’ he comments. ‘Those artists are the future of our sector, so that really worries me that, if they cannot get affordable insurance cover, they will likely leave.

‘And that’s really where it starts to impose an existential threat to the wider circus sector,’ he continues.

‘So, I’m concerned that this is just the beginning of what will be more cost increases and difficulties for artists like us.’

Like many other circus artists ArtsHub spoke to for this story, Davis sees a great irony in the fact that the circus sector, as one of the most safety-conscious areas of the arts, seems to be newly regarded by insurers as being ‘high risk’.

‘I don’t know anyone [in the circus sector] who has made an insurance claim before,’ he says. ‘So, it’s not as though what we are doing is suddenly more dangerous.

‘Circus artists have very high standards of safety, because we have to,’ he adds. ‘What we do on stage might look dangerous, but the training involved, and the standards we uphold around safety are very high.

‘So, it’s a huge concern to me that insurance companies might now be thinking of circus-related activity as being high risk, because no one takes safety more seriously than circus artists do.’

Circus artists concerned about insurance issues can register their experiences in this survey by Theatre Network Australia who are currently gathering data on this issue.