Musical Equipment Insurance – A Fresh Start with HUB

September 1, 2024

Ken Shirk  -  AFM International Secretary-Treasurer

When this administration stepped into office a year ago, one of the first messages awaiting me was a notice from the Federation’s group membership insurance broker that AIG/New Hampshire was pulling the plug on the AFM’s long-running musical instrument and band liability insurance programs for US members. That started what became a months-long scramble by our agent to find replacement coverage. They succeeded in working out a package with a carrier for equipment coverage, but did not locate a replacement for band liability coverage. Timing-wise, for those who participated in the AFM’s equipment program, the transition from AIG to the new carrier was a bit of a nail-biter as policy expiration dates came and went, and those who made use of the previous band liability program were left to the forces of the open market. Additionally, issues with the broker’s call-in service center added to members’ discomfiture.

The entire experience of the past 12 months revealed to the International Executive Board that the broker’s services and strengths, as measured against the AFM’s requirements as a labor union, were mismatched. By last spring, moves were underway to explore other options for meeting the membership’s insurance needs.

A survey of the landscape for a replacement agent eventually led to HUB International, a worldwide company with a wide and deep reach into the labyrinthian world of insurance carriers. The IEB met with HUB representatives in June, who laid out an approach for membership insurance services that promised a significant improvement and modernization for interfacing with AFM members. After careful consideration, the board concluded that HUB would be a good fit for the membership, the local unions, and the Federation. The newly-completed affiliation agreement went into effect on September 1.

Coincidentally, the Canadian Conference of the AFM, comprised of the AFM’s Canadian local unions, has had a relationship with HUB for several years, facilitating musical equipment insurance for members and liability insurance for local unions. Even more coincidentally, Scott Konrad, HUB’s North American Nonprofit practice leader, is the great grand-nephew of Joseph Weber, the AFM’s second and longest-serving president. Konrad and HUB also work with Lincoln Center orchestras and Carnegie Hall in New York City, drawing HUB’s connection to musicians full circle.

As of this writing, details and programs are being hammered out, guided by AFM Assistant Secretary Wages Argott. A new website interface is being designed to support program access, which will be enhanced by an up-to-date mobile device portal to access sales and individual account information on the fly. Complete information will be published when the program roll-out is complete.

NOTE: The AFM’s new relationship with HUB does not interfere with or disturb members’ instrument insurance coverage previously obtained or renewed through the previous broker, AMBA. Any policies secured through AMBA will remain in effect for the policy period for which the member paid.

The Legislative Front

Although matters of US Congressional legislation do not normally fall into the Secretary-Treasurer’s portfolio, a necessary division of labor at the start of this administration, together with my position as a board member of the AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees, combined to drag me into the morass of congressional watchdogging on an interim basis, pending the restaffing of the AFM’s Legislative Office in DC. I can report without reservation that the skillsets and coded language required to navigate not just the halls of Congress but also the alleys and byways of the federal regulatory agencies are even more challenging than asking a bass trombone player to sight-read alto clef at an outdoor concert on a windy day.

During the past couple of years, AI legislation has been pouring into Capitol Hill from friends and foes of musicians alike, and sifting through them all to gain a firm understanding of which pieces will benefit or hurt musicians while simultaneously advancing our own interests, has been a daunting task. Add to that our ongoing imperatives to ensure that funding for the arts continue, secure musicians’ ability to carry their instruments on airplanes in the face of ever-changing TSA screening technology, address the inequities foisted upon musicians in the 2017 tax reform act, and find a regulatory or legislative solution to the USCIS-imposed barriers that severely impede AFM Canadian members’ ability to perform gigs in the US, and the need for a full-time force of nature in DC becomes ever more apparent.

It is therefore with considerable pleasure and anticipation, as announced in President Gagliardi’s column this month, that we welcome Ben Kessler to the staff as the AFM’s Executive Director of Government Affairs. Previously Director of Congressional Affairs for the National Endowment for the Arts, Ben brings an incredibly valuable blend of talents to the AFM for the benefit of the members, not the least of which is a real insider’s knowledge of the workings of DC and a treasure trove of pre-existing relationships with our union allies, federal agencies, and congressional staffers. When combined with his professional status as an intellectual property lawyer, with Ben, we will be well-positioned to reclaim our status as the tip of the spear in the legislative arena.

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