色多多视频

In Casey Santangelo’s world, art and transportation are inextricably linked. Casey, the head of AXA XL’s Fine Art & Specie for the Americas, has a career’s worth of expertise in fine art and inland marine risks. In fact, Casey says the largest risk to artwork is not theft, but losses relating to transport of items.

We sat down with Casey to talk about her work and about how fine art is embracing more sustainable business practices.

Your career seems to have been tied to fine art, construction and inland marine from the start. How did those areas become connected?

Casey: I had graduated from college with a business major and I couldn’t decide what to do next. Fortunately, I was given a great opportunity to join Travelers 色多多视频 in an underwriting training program.

In that program, I worked in a business unit called Inland Marine. That encompassed many lines of business such as construction, motor truck cargo and fine art, because of the transit exposure involved with fine art. They fell under the same umbrella.

Fortunately for me, my mentor was a motor truck cargo expert. Because of his trucking expertise , he was handling fine art, as well, due to the tie-in with the transit exposure.

I immediately took a liking to the fine art class of business; I thought it was so intriguing. I enjoyed working with the brokers in the space and I really dove into it. I got to work with some of the largest and most sophisticated fine art brokers in the space. Before long, I had built the largest book of fine art business at Travelers.

From there, I had gone on to hold a couple of different roles. I was in an RUO role, which was essentially a referral officer for the company. All lines inland marine fell under my remit there. That’s where I was able to work with renewable energy, builder’s risk, motor truck cargo and fine art all in the span of a day.

Where did your interest in the art world start?

It started with my mom. She is very artistic. From a young age, she would drive me from where we lived in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to New York City. We would go to different art shows and museums. I was always drawn to this world.

Combining that with your background, you have the right fit for the challenges the market faces.

Absolutely. When you talk about fine art insurance to outsiders, people always think theft is the number one loss peril. It is not. Art in motion is art at risk. The transit and handling exposure is where we see the most damage. Having that background in motor truck cargo and the tie-in to art had really helped me bring that to light in my underwriting practice.

Along with that, what are some of the other key focus areas for you right now?

Sustainability is such a key focus for the art market right now. With the goal of creating more sustainable transit options, sea transit has become a key consideration. Unfortunately, that comes with a whole different set of concerns due to the limited oversight at the ports and in transit, including the potential for water damage. Plus, there’s the time issue. It could take weeks for a piece to be moved by sea whereas with air transit it can be done in a matter of days. It’s a complex issue; the industry wants to be more sustainable but not at the cost of the cultural integrity of the artwork.

I believe we will see more technology solutions to help reduce the environmental impact of transporting art as we move forward. So far, technology has provided more sustainable crating options that can be broken down and fully recycled.

The latest conversations are about revamping temperature controls, as appropriate. The industry is working to help build consensus amongst the museum community to agree to work within wider gallery parameters, Plus, sites like www.Barder.art allow the industry to trade or barter used packaging and display materials to reduce the carbon footprint.

With collectors from all over the world attending fairs and gallery openings in various parts of the globe, there will be more demand for sustainability and for risk management solutions to help mitigate loss potential.

How is insurance playing a wider role in the art world?

Art lives beyond us. Our clients are deeply concerned with protecting cultural heritages – they work tirelessly to protect the longevity of these pieces that tell the story of humanity and culture. Doing so in a sustainable, safe way is their primary concern. We are here to make sure things get from Point A to Point B, and to provide assistance in safekeeping their collection through loss mitigation services.

That includes a good deal of risk management.

Yes. One of the things that we're doing is working with our insureds and the storage facilities to help develop hurricane preparedness plans for some of our larger collectors in hurricane-prone areas. We make sure they have plans in place for moving the art to a safe location. Wildfires too, though they are less predictable. But we work with insureds to develop disaster plans for moving pieces to safer ground in the event of a wildfire. As we continue to see increased frequency in wildfires and hurricanes, it’s become increasingly important to have disaster mitigation plans in place that can be acted upon quickly and safely.

Are insureds getting the message?

For the most part, much of the industry was already aware of the importance of protection from the elements. Superstorm Sandy had a real impact on the art industry, because of the concentration of galleries in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York that experienced major flooding. That changed the fine art insurance market. The community became hyperaware of the risk associated with basement storage in a flood zone. The one positive outcome of the Sandy flooding is that the industry is now thinking differently about protecting their artwork from natural disasters and making sure that they are prepared if another event were to occur.

When it comes to the fine art market itself, what do you see the future bringing?

Sustainability will continue to be a focus for the art market as the industry aims to lower their carbon footprint. I think you'll see fairs looking a little bit differently: rethinking the way that they utilize the materials for fairs and the transportation of the artwork with more events being held virtually to cut down on travel. That’s where I see the most advancements happening in the next five to ten years.

The art world is global. With collectors from all over the world attending fairs and gallery openings in various parts of the globe, there will be more demand for sustainability and for risk management solutions to help mitigate loss potential.

The art industry will continue to brainstorm on better transportation and better packaging. Our Fine Art & Specie team will be there with the latest information, loss control services and preparedness planning to keep collections and cultural treasures safe for many more generations.