The Grounds stops booking certain events, citing insurance

A decision by The Grounds to stop hosting certain types of events is drawing attention and criticism on social media. At the center of the conversation: new restrictions tied to the venue’s insurance policy. Josh Woods, Executive Director of The Grounds and the Greater Gulf State Fair, says the nonprofit recently renewed its insurance, and with that renewal came exclusions affecting what kinds of events it can host.

“Every business has insurance. Our nonprofit organization has insurance as well, so part of that, part of hosting events and it being a place where folks can gather, we have to go by what our insurance is allowing," Woods said.

Woods says those exclusions include several different types of entertainment.

“Hard rock music, obviously things with fireworks, some hip-hop style events, rap events, that’s part of the exclusions in our contract. While we could make folks to take out higher insurance policies, at this time we’ve just across the board said we’re just not going to host those event types," Woods said. "At least not right now.”

That decision, particularly the inclusion of hip-hop and rap events, has sparked questions online about whether race played a role. Woods says it did not.

“It has nothing to do with an organization in our facility or an individual that wants to rent our facility. At the end of the day, if you look across our whole portfolio of events throughout the year, we host anything. From obviously, the fair that we produce ourselves, our largest event," he said,

Woods points to an event happening this weekend as an example.

“This weekend, I’m very proud, our first-ever, the Black Rodeo Association is hosting a large event, a rodeo this Saturday. So, this has nothing to do with any type of organization or us being selective. At the end of the day, this is a business decision just because of our business insurance and the exclusions on our policy," Woods said,

Woods says he couldn't explain exactly how the insurer determined which event types would be excluded. He says there has been an incident at an event in the past, something he believes may have factored into the insurer's risk assessment.

“At this time, it’s probably some complex insurance formula that they put in a computer and spit out what our exclusions are, but there has been a history obviously of an event in the past where an incident did occur so I guess with that and some complex formula is how we get our exclusions.”

For now, Woods says the restrictions remain in place, but The Grounds is continuing to look for ways to bring a variety of events to the community. Woods says The Grounds could require organizers of those excluded events to carry higher insurance policies. But for now, the venue has decided across the board not to book those types of events.

The Grounds stops booking certain events, citing insurance

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