Business insurance for arts & media professionals
Protect your creative work with insurance tailored to your activity
Whether you shoot on location as a photographer, run a music school or teach dance, your work carries specific risks that business insurance is designed to cover. Discover public liability and professional indemnity cover built for creative and performing arts professionals in Ireland.
Business insurance, done differently.
Fully online business insurance in Ireland.
A few questions and you're covered.
No lock-in, no long contracts.
Excess from €0, up to €6.5 million of cover.
Our insurance is for
Why business insurance is essential in arts and media
Creative work puts you in rooms and venues full of other people and their things. From a studio shoot to a Saturday morning dance class, these activities share common exposures:
Injury to other people: a visitor tripping over your equipment, or a student hurt during a lesson.
Damage to other people's property: knocking over a client's instrument, or marking a venue you're working in.
Financial loss to a client: a mistake in work you hand over, like a shoot that can't be used.
Public liability covers injury and damage you cause to others, and it's available to every profession in this sector. t pays the compensation and the cost of defending you, including when a complaint turns out to be unfounded. Photographers and dance teachers can add Professional Indemnity for financial loss.
What is Public Liability insurance?
How does public liability work? If a third party, like a client or a member of the public, holds you responsible for an injury or for damage to their property, public liability insurance takes care of your defence costs and any compensation due.
What does it cover? Injury or property damage caused to others in the course of your work. You choose a cover limit of €1.25 million, €2.5 million or €6.5 million per claim. Employers' Liability (€13 million per claim) can be added if you have staff. Music schools and dance teachers can also add Third-party objects and sites cover, for damage to equipment or premises of others in your care, up to €5,000 per claim; that cover is not available on photography.
Cover that fits your profession. You describe your activities fully at sign-up, and your cover matches what you actually do: photography shoots, music or dance classes, and workshops.
Your excess. The amount you pay yourself towards a claim. The options are €0, €250, €500, €1,000 and €2,500, with €0 and €250 available up to €500,000 annual revenue; above that the minimum is €500.
Is it mandatory? Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. In practice, clients, venues, landlords and local authorities often ask for proof of cover before you can teach or hire a space. Cover starts from €7.55 per month.
Who needs it? Photographers, music schools, dance teachers and anyone running creative classes or studios where the public, students or clients are around your work.
What is Professional Indemnity insurance?
Professional indemnity covers the purely financial loss a client suffers because of a mistake in your professional work: wrong advice, a miscalculation, a missed detail, or an error in something you delivered. It doesn't cover injury or damage to property, which is public liability.
What counts as a professional mistake? For a photographer: delivering corrupted or unusable files, an error in material you produced for a client, or unintentionally using material protected by intellectual property rights without the right permissions.
Who is it for? Photographers, whose deliverables clients rely on. Dance teachers can also add it. Music schools cannot.
How does the cover respond? It's written on a claims-made basis: the claim must be made and reported to us while your policy runs.
Switching to us from another insurer? Work from up to 5 years back is covered, provided your previous policy would have covered the claim.
Leaving? Claims about work done while you were insured must be reported before your policy ends, unless run-off cover is arranged.
Cover that fits your profession. You select your activities when you apply, so the policy and its exclusions match what you actually advise on and deliver. Keep in mind that promising or guaranteeing results is excluded. You choose a cover limit from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year; professional indemnity starts from €10.80 per month.
Which cover do you need?
Most businesses are exposed to both. One covers injury and damage, the other financial loss from your work. You can combine them in one Insify policy. Cover limits, excess and exclusions apply. See the policy wording.
Public Liability insurance
Covers claims when your work injures someone or damages something that belongs to them. For example, someone trips over your equipment, or you damage a floor while working at a client's premises.
- Choose your cover: from €1.25 million up to €6.5 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Staff? Add optional Employers' Liability with €13 million cover per claim
- Most relevant when your work brings you into contact with clients, the public, their premises or their belongings
Professional Indemnity insurance
Covers purely financial loss a client suffers through a professional mistake, oversight or wrong advice, with no injury or property damage involved. Think of work a client claims was unfit for purpose and cost them money.
- Choose your cover: from €125,000 up to €1.25 million per claim, and up to twice that per insurance year
- Excess from €0, depending on your turnover
- Most relevant when clients pay you for advice, programmes and plans
What's covered
Rendering of photography services
Site visits (such as wedding receptions)
Organisation and execution of company events, seminars or training courses
Instruction and coaching in artistic disciplines (like music schools, music teachers, theatre lessons, painting/drawing lessons, and acting trainers.)
Performing arts (like acting, theatrical performances, musical performances, dance performances, opera, stand-up comedy, spoken word, and mime)
Unintentionally using materials protected by intellectual property rights (except patents) without the necessary licences and/or permissions
Use of land, buildings or premises for the insured activity
Optional Employers' Liability (€13 million per claim) if you have staff
Optional Third-party objects and sites (up to €5,000 per claim), for music schools and dance teachers only
Organising events
Medical services (such as physiotherapy, chiropractic, sports massage)
Broadcasting of films (e.g. movies, advertisements) on television or in cinemas
Promising or guaranteeing results (such as weight loss)
Infringement of any patent
Cover and exclusions shown are indicative and non-contractual. Only the terms of your policy apply.
Some examples
During a dance class, a student slips and injures a wrist. Public liability covers the medical costs and the compensation claimed against you.
On an on-location shoot, a photographer accidentally knocks over and damages a client's display cabinet. Public liability covers the repair cost.
A photographer delivers corrupted, unusable files from a paid campaign shoot and the client claims for the financial loss. Professional indemnity covers the compensation.
During a dance class, a student slips and injures a wrist. Public liability covers the medical costs and the compensation claimed against you.
On an on-location shoot, a photographer accidentally knocks over and damages a client's display cabinet. Public liability covers the repair cost.
A photographer delivers corrupted, unusable files from a paid campaign shoot and the client claims for the financial loss. Professional indemnity covers the compensation.
Examples are for illustrative purposes only. Compensation depends on the exact circumstances of the claim. No rights can be derived from these examples.
Your business insurance with Insify SmartGuide
Taking out insurance can be quick. Making sure you have the right cover is another matter. With Insify SmartGuide, you don't sign a contract blindly. You ask all your questions, and get clear, immediate and personalised answers, before you take out a policy.
Are you covered if you accidentally damage a client's equipment while working?
What excess should you choose?
Are you protected in the event of a dispute with a client?
Insify SmartGuide guides you step by step to understand what's covered, what isn't, and why. In just a few clicks, you build insurance that's truly tailored to your business, with complete confidence. Try Insify SmartGuide. Understand your insurance before you need it.
More than 40,000 entrepreneurs trust us
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Very friendly, quick and thorough. It gives me real confidence in taking out the cover. The company feels genuinely transparent, exactly what I look for. You don't find that often.
When I had to make a claim, I was amazed how quickly and efficiently it was handled. Within a few days I had a resolution.
The cover itself was sorted quickly, and when I later needed support I got that fast too.
Frequently Asked Questions
Public liability isn't required by law in Ireland. In practice, though, it is often essential: clients, venues, landlords and local authorities regularly ask for proof of cover before you can teach, exhibit or hire a space. Without it, a single claim for an injury or for damage to someone else's property could fall entirely on you. For most photographers, music schools and dance teachers, public liability is the baseline cover that lets you take bookings and work in third-party spaces with confidence.
They cover different things. Public liability deals with injury or physical damage you cause to other people or their property, and every profession on this page can take it out. Professional indemnity deals with the purely financial loss a client suffers because of a mistake in your professional work, such as delivering unusable files or an error in something you produced. It is available to photographers and dance teachers, not to music schools. If your risk is mainly people and property around your activity, public liability is the cover that fits.
Your cover follows the activities you declare at sign-up rather than a single fixed address, so classes, workshops and shoots run at different venues can be covered. The key is to describe what you do fully and accurately when you apply: the venues, the type of activity and whether the public or students are present.
One thing to keep separate: organising an event is not covered for music schools or dance teachers. Teaching a class in a hired room is your insured activity; putting on a recital, a showcase or a public event as the organiser is excluded. Photography is treated differently, because attending and photographing an event, including wedding receptions, is within cover.
The excess is the part of a claim you pay yourself before the insurer pays the rest. For example, if a claim is settled at €4,000 and your excess is €250, you pay the first €250 and Insify pays the remaining €3,750. The options are €0, €250, €500, €1,000 and €2,500, with €0 and €250 available up to €500,000 annual revenue; above that the minimum is €500. A higher excess usually means a lower premium, so it is a trade-off between what you pay month to month and what you pay if a claim happens.
Yes. If you employ people, Employers' Liability can be added as an optional cover, with a limit of €13 million per claim. It responds if a member of your staff is injured or becomes ill because of their work for you. Whether you need it depends on how you are set up: if you take on employees, assistants or paid helpers for classes or shoots, it is important to have this in place. You can add it when you apply or as your team grows.
No. Insify's cover in Ireland is liability cover: it protects you against injury and damage you cause to other people, and against the financial loss a client suffers from a professional mistake. It does not cover your own cameras, instruments, stock or premises against theft or damage. Music schools and dance teachers can add Third-party objects and sites, an optional cover for damage to equipment or premises belonging to others that are in your care, up to €5,000 per claim; that cover is not available on photography. For your own property, you would need a separate arrangement.