The cultural institution I work for organized an international art competition. I am now creating a catalogue of all the artworks recieved along with the names of artists, their countries etc. This catalogue will be for anyone interested in the competition.
My boss said it is also required to include all of their home addresses in the catalogue, alongside their names.
My question is, is this normal/standard? I can’t imagine why any stranger would care in which apartment artist X lives in or why it even matters. From my perspective, I wouldn’t want everyone to know where I live just because I submitted some artworks to a competition. I guess other artists may feel the same. So yeah, I don’t know if I should tell the boss that it’s a stupid idea or just do what he says.
Yeah, that sounds really weird and hostile. Is your boss a bit of a nitwit?
Your boss sounds confused. It’s not unusual to put an artist’s BUSINESS address/studio address in a catalogue. This is what allows people to track them down later, visit their gallery/studio, request a catalogue specifically of the artist’s work, and/or commission a piece. Basically, what your boss should put in your catalogue is what the artist offers up on his/her business card. Even then, a lot of artists only provide email addresses and websites.
Edit: I really would not include this information without having express consent of the submitting artists beforehand.
Maybe what your boss really wants is to have a method for the artists to contact one another.
How old is your boss?
I’d imagine that thirty or more years ago, one’s home address was probably an important piece of information to hand to others. That way, prospective clients, employers, or other business prospects could contact you.
But back then we (or most of us, anyway) didn’t have email, voicemail, and answering machines. Things like identity theft and stalking were also thought to be less of a problem.
I’m not sure exactly what kind of art is involved in your competition, but I would imagine that an email address would be sufficient for anyone who wishes to contact one of the artists. Modern email even allows one to send photos of artwork, rather than send hard copies through the mails.
I could see putting the artist’s state and country, or maybe even city, state, and country, but I’m not so sure the address is a good idea.
Are any of these artworks potentially controversial or offensive? That would make it even more important not to include the artist’s home address.
Well, he seems to have a different approach than I do, with most things.
Yes this makes sense. Putting their email and personal portfolio website sounds like a much better idea.
My boss is around 60-ish. None of the art in this competition could be considered controversial or provocative in my opinion, it has a very friendly theme. City and country seem like a better suggestion (along with email and website). I’ll try telling him.
Don’t put home addresses, for heaven’s sakes.
What does the fine print of the rules state? If it says that your address will be published, then who cares? The artist knowingly entered into the agreement in exchange for being able to submit their artwork into the competition.
This is one of the problems I have with it - it does not say anything about this in the rules of participation. This means that they did not consent to this and are totally unaware that their home addresses might be published. I will bring this up with the boss tomorrow.
Without their consent, I would not include any personal information. In fact, depending upon your jurisdiction, you could become liable for releasing certain private information without such consent.
Yeah spin it as a legal liability issue. Do you guys have a legal department to refer to? They’ll shoot his idea down faster than you can say lawsuit.
If not, what the fuck fantasy world is this asshole living in that he doesn’t think he needs to get permission to publish someone’s home address in a catalog?
REQUIRED? By whom? For what reason? Nowadays, I’d think it much more likely for it to be PROHIBITED to divulge such info. Your boss would be wise to explore and consider this matter carefully, lest he step into some deep doo-doo.
An address is a matter of public record though, right? I know that people sell books full of the home addresses of celebrities and athletes and it’s perfectly legal to do so - and not just because they’re public figures.
I don’t think it’s right, but I do think it’s legal.
Not neccessarily. I have an unlisted telephone number, and my residence is owned and shown on the county tax rolls as owned by a trust, not by me personally. So my residence in my name, is not a matter of public record.
Oh hell no … don’t give thieves a shopping list set of locations … Give a city and country, and an option for an agent contact. Never ever give out personal addresses!!!
Yeah but we presume the OP doesn’t want to just do what’s legal, they also want to do what’s standard and courteous for the industry. The OP (or his organization) may have to deal with some of these artists again, but the celebrity address guy doesn’t really care if he pisses off Jennifer Aniston by giving out her home address.
I have no art experience by my general impression is that if you are going to distribute someone’s contact info, then you specifically ask what they want given out for that context. ie, “Name and Address (for competition catalogue):____”
I think he meant required as in, that’s how they’ve been doing it for the past few years so it would be their standard procedure. I wasn’t working here during the previous competitions.
The good news is I told him about it (also mentioned that people online are quite unanimous that it’s a bad idea) - and he agreed. We won’t publish the addresses. Whew, I feel better now and I’m glad I told him, it was really easy. 
What is all the hysteria about this?
Have you people ever heard of something called a ‘phone book’?
Phone books don’t say “this person is a published artist who may have expensive electronic equipment and/or artwork in their home.”
Moreover, there is a difference between information that’s freely available, and information that’s organized and published in an easy-to-find location. Court records are freely available, but I don’t worry about Joe Schmoe knowing about my bankruptcy since there’s a process you have to go through to obtain those records. You have to know me or my name, first of all. Then you have to go to court and put in a request, and possibly pay a processing fee. This is a not-insignificant amount of work that will deter most people from caring to find out.
There’s a difference between saying “my password is written on my bedroom wall, just come and see it and it’s yours!” and publishing my password in a newspaper alongside my username, name, address, and banking information.
unlisted numbers.
I’d be pretty livid if I submitted artwork and then saw my home address published in your catalog.