1. Introduction

2. Overview & Partners

3. Good Practice

   1. Finding The Right Artists
   2. The Briefing Process
   3. Contracting
   4. Artists & Money
   5. Legalities
   6. Evaluation

4. Project Examples

5. Useful Contacts

6. Groundwork UK

Good Practice Legalities

This section provides guidance on some of the key legal responsibilities associated with arts projects – along with links to web resources.

Groundwork has policies on vulnerable groups, child protection, and minimum standards for youth work – these are detailed documents, which can be viewed by Trust staff on the Groundwork intranet.

Child Protection/Criminal Record Bureau checks

When thinking about asking an artist to run workshops for young people you must, by law, carry out the required police safety checks. This will safeguard not only your organisation and the young people concerned but also the artist involved. This is normal practice and will not offend the arts practitioners. For general information on Child Protection and Police checks, have a look at the Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) website.

• www.crb.gov.uk

Data Protection

Care must be taken in the use of artists and participants’ private details – especially contact details, numbers etc. However the most common area of confusion in relation to arts projects is over the use of images:

Photographs of specific individuals

When photographs of a specific individual or individuals are being taken, it should be made clear to them what the photographs will be used for, and where they will appear. The individual(s) should consent to such use of their images. It is always preferable to obtain consent in writing, in case of any subsequent challenges. If you later wish to use the photograph for another purpose, you should again obtain the consent of the individual for this new purpose. It is particularly important to do this when images that were originally taken for use in paper publications are later used on the Internet (see below).

Group photographs

When photographs of a group are being taken, it should be explained to the group what the photographs will be used for, and any individuals who wish to opt out should be allowed to do so.

General photographs

For general photographs, care should be taken to ensure that any individuals whose images are captured cannot be identified from those images. For example, photographs might be taken in such a way as to ensure that faces cannot be clearly seen or that individuals are only seen in the distance.

Publishing photographs on the Internet

Publication of photographic images on the Internet means that such images are available worldwide. This breaches Data Protection principles unless consent has been obtained from the data subject. Again, for your own protection in case of subsequent challenges, this should be explicit written consent. In these circumstances, it is important to understand that the consent will not be considered as valid by the Data Protection Commissioner unless it has been clearly explained to the data subject that their images will be available throughout the world, including in countries where the rights of data subjects are not protected by law.

• www.ico.gov.uk

Insurance

Appropriate and adequate insurance cover must be obtained – for certain projects you may need a mix/match of Public Liability, Product Liability, Professional Indemnity and cover for equipment and materials.

Make sure it is clear who is responsible for each of these different types of cover, and who will pay the premiums. Some insurance may be for a limited period - for an event or short project, but some may be ongoing - for example, until a sited work is decommissioned or moved.

Health and Safety

Arts projects tend to have very specific health and safety considerations, and it is essential to explore these with artists at the planning stage. There may be issues to do with materials, use of equipment, noise, or the way that participants are supervised. This can be incredibly detailed - for example, it is no longer permissible to use the tubes from toilet rolls for model making in schools – for fear of infection. 

If structures are built, even temporary ones, structural safety is a key requirement - and this can be long term. Indeed you may not get insurance unless the structural stability of a piece of work can be guaranteed. You will need to work with the artist to ensure that risks are minimised – especially where works are unattended. People have a curious habit of climbing or leaning on things, or may even get injured in an attempt to vandalise them.

• Health and Safety www.hse.gov.uk

1. Groundwork Arts Toolkit

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