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Privacy policy

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This privacy policy outlines who we are and how we collect, use and store your personal information.

The policy provides information on your rights to access and correct the information we hold about you and how to contact us for queries or complaints about our use of your personal information, or to unsubscribe from marketing communications.

This privacy policy applies to information we collect about:

  • visitors to our digital channels (e.g. website, apps)
  • people who use and support our services
  • job and volunteering applicants

This Privacy Policy should be read alongside, and in addition to, our Terms and Conditions.

Who are we?

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration is the UK’s first and only arts organisation for illustration. We celebrate illustration in all its forms, support illustrators and empower people of all ages to tell their stories. We are a charity registered as ‘Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration’, with charity number 1095210.

Our details

Charity number: 1095210
Company number: 04484943
ICO registration number: ZB273460

Registered office address:
Goldwins Ltd., 75 Maygrove Road, London, NW6 2EG, United Kingdom

The Data Protection Manager is via data@qbcentre.org.uk

What is personal information?

Any information that relates to a living identifiable person. The UK Information Commissioner’s Office has more information on your personal data.

How do we collect personal information?

We collect your personal information at the point when you interact with us and allow us to do so. For example:

  • book a ticket or event
  • sign up to our e-newsletter
  • make a purchase
  • send or receive an email
  • attend an event, workshop or course
  • complete an evaluation form about your experience with us
  • write to us with a query, comment or complaint
  • make a donation to us
  • join as member
  • apply for a job or residency
  • provide a service we have contracted from you
  • lend us an artwork or license copyrighted material to us
  • visit our website
  • provide feedback
  • book one of our spaces
  • interact with us on social media.

Information may be collected in person, over the phone, through our websites, social media or from something you’ve posted to us.

We may also collect your personal data when this is provided to us by a third party, for example when a friend or family member buys a gift ticket for you.

We will also collect and hold information about any contact you have with us as a visitor, customer or supporter of Quentin Blake Centre, and this may include details of:

  • ticket purchase and event registration/attendance
  • contact preferences
  • online or in store retail or café purchases
  • gift information, including Direct Debit bank details where applicable
  • Gift Aid status
  • details of correspondence sent to you or received from you
  • donor status and wealth assessment information
  • employment information and professional activities

Why do we collect data?

We are required to ensure that we have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We only use your personal data when we believe it is lawful to do so as outlined by the lawful bases below:

To fulfil our obligations under a contract with you

We may process your personal data if we have a contract with you. For example:

  • When you make a donation, we need to use your personal data to administer your donation e.g. processing your Gift Aid donation and corresponding with you regarding your donation.
  • When you hire our spaces for an event, we will process your personal data to facilitate the booking.
  • When you purchase an item from our online shop, we need to use your personal data to deliver the item to you.

When we have your consent

If we have asked your permission to do so in advance, we may use your personal data to:

  • Send you emails about upcoming events and exhibitions.
  • Send you our newsletter.
  • Contact you to ask you to respond to surveys or take part in a focus group.

When we have a legal obligation to do so.

We may process your personal data for example, when:

  • Storing information about donations and transactions for tax and audit purposes.
  • Complying with your data rights e.g. to have accurate information held about you, if you ask us for a copy of your data or for us to delete your data.
  • Using CCTV recording equipment on our premises for security purposes.
  • When it is in our legitimate interest to do so.

When we have a legitimate interest

We may process your personal data when we believe that we have a legitimate interest in doing so. For example, we may:

  • Analyse how our audiences respond to our marketing and communications so that we can ensure we are being relevant and targeting the right audiences.
  • Identify and contact individuals who are in a position to support the Centre.

For your vital interests

We may process your personal data if it is for your vital interests and safety. For example:

  • in relation to certain events where you may be requested to provide emergency contact details or similar information.

How do we use your data?

Any or all of the above Data may be required by us from time to time in order to provide you with the best possible service and experience when using our website.

How do we keep data secure?

We use technical and organisational measures to safeguard your Data, for example:

  • access to your account is controlled by a password and a username that is unique to you.
  • we store your Data on secure servers.

We have measures to deal with any suspected data breach. If you suspect any misuse or loss of unauthorised access to your Data, please let us know immediately by contacting us via this email address: data@qbcentre.org.uk.

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Who we might share your information with?

We will never share, sell, rent or trade your personal information to any third parties, unless required to do so by law.

We may share your personal information with trusted, General Data Protection Regulation-compliant service providers, sub-contractors and agents appointed to perform functions on our behalf. These include payment providers, event ticketing providers, email communication providers, IT service providers, postal mailing providers, accountants, auditors, lawyers and event facilitators.

We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Data retention

Your data will always be collected, processed and stored in compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulations.

Unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law, we will only hold your Data on our systems for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy or until you request that the Data be deleted. Even if we delete your Data, it may persist on backup or archival media for legal, tax or regulatory purposes. More information about Data retention is in our Data Protection and Data Security Policy.

Your rights

You have the following rights in relation to your Data:

  1. Right to access – the right to request (i) copies of the information we hold about you at any time, or (ii) that we modify, update or delete such information. If we provide you with access to the information we hold about you, we will not charge you for this, unless your request is “manifestly unfounded or excessive”. Where we are legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. If we refuse your request, we will tell you the reasons why.
  2. Right to correct – the right to have your Data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
  3. Right to be informed – the right to be informed about the collection and use of their personal data.
  4. Right to erase – the right to request that we delete or remove your Data from our systems.
  5. Right to restrict our use of your Data – the right to request the restriction or suppression of their personal data in certain circumstances.
  6. Right to data portability – the right to request that we move, copy or transfer your Data.
  7. Right to object – the right to object to our use of your Data including where we use it for our legitimate interests.

It is important that the data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed on data@qbcentre.org.uk if your data changes during the period for which we hold it.

Subject Access Requests

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you: this is called a Subject Access Request (‘SAR’). If you would like a copy of some or all of your information, please email or write to us by contacting the Data Protection Manager.

By email: data@qbcentre.org.uk

By post: Data Protection, Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, 1 Myddelton Passage, London, EC1R 1AG

SARs for access to CCTV images/footage by individuals (when they are requesting for access to images of themselves) must be made in writing to the Data Protection Manager and must include:

  • The full name and address of the person making the request
  • A personal description of the data subject and/or details of what they were wearing to ensure we can locate the individual, and that only relevant images are disclosed
  • The approximate date and time when the images were recorded to allow for searching
  • The location where the images were recorded

We will normally respond to your request within 28 days from the date your request is received. We may require the requester to verify their identity before your request can be processed. We will let you know if we need to verify your identity and the documents we require.

If your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, we are not obliged to comply with it.

If we cannot comply with the SAR, the reasons for not being able to comply must be documented. You will be advised of these in writing.

Complaints

If you would like to raise a concern or complaints, you can contact us in the following ways:

By email: data@qbcentre.org.uk

By post: Complaints, Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, 1 Myddelton Passage, London, EC1R 1AG

If you are not satisfied with the way a complaint you make in relation to your Data is handled by us, you may be able to refer your complaint to the relevant data protection authority. For the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO’s contact details can be found on their website at https://ico.org.uk/.

If you have signed up to our newsletter you can opt out at any time by clicking the ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of any newsletter. You can also opt out of receiving communications from us by emailing data@qbcentre.org.uk.

General

  • You may not transfer any of your rights under this Privacy Policy to any other person. We may transfer our rights under this Privacy Policy where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected.
  • If any court or competent authority finds that any provision of this Privacy Policy to any other person. We may transfer our rights under this Privacy Policy where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected.
  • Unless otherwise agreed, no delay, act or omission by a party in exercising any right or remedy will be deemed a waiver of that, or any other, right or remedy.
  • This Agreement will be governed by and interpreted according to the laws of England and Wales. All disputes arising under the Agreement will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts.

Other Websites

Depending on your settings and the Privacy Policy(s) for social media services like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, you might give us permission to access information from those accounts of services. We collect and track anonymised data about our social media audiences to better understand the groups of people who engage with us online. We use this to create content that will be of interest to you and to develop audiences who are new to us. We may record and share the information that you post publicly about us on social media platforms. For example, if you tag us in an Instagram post, we may repost your image and caption to our own followers.

This Website may, from time to time, provide links to other websites. We have no control over such websites and are not responsible for the content of these websites. This Privacy Policy does not extend to your use of such websites. You are advised to read the Privacy Policy or statement of other websites prior to using them.

Changes to the Privacy Policy

Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy as we may deem necessary from time to time or as may be required by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on the Website and you are deemed to have accepted the terms of the Privacy Policy on your first use of the Website following the alterations.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on 17 February 2026.