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(opens in new window) 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

Personal information we collect may include:

your name
pronouns
email address
gender
date of birth
phone numbers
payment card details (we do not retain these details once payment has been made)
mailing and billing address
your access requirements
photo/video of you visiting the Centre (via CCTV)
photo/video of your engaging with our activities (you may appear on film or in photographs being taken at our events.
We reserve the right to take photographs in public and gallery spaces and at events. Individuals should notify staff if they do not wish to be photographed. Images are processed on the basis of legitimate interests, namely to document and promote the Centre’s activities, or on the basis of consent. All reasonable efforts will be made to gain approval (usually via a consent form) from the subject of any image of an identifiable person which the Centre publishes in print or online. Parents/Guardians will be asked to sign approval forms for children under 18 years old.)
your work history (such as portfolio or a CV)
your views on our work
your online interactions with us

We may also collect your personal data through cookies or from publicly available sources (such as Companies House, social media or your company website).

If you are an organisation working with us, in accordance with this Privacy Policy, we may collect the following Data:

name of the organisation you work for
your job title and department
images or video of your work

If you are an illustrator working with us, in accordance with this Privacy Policy, we may collect the following Data:

biographic information
information on your previous work, skills and interests
images or video of your work

If you are an artwork lender working with us, in accordance with this Privacy Policy, we may collect the following Data:

detailed information on the works in your collection
images or video of your collection

Automatically collected data

To the extent that you access the website, we will collect your Data automatically, for example:

we automatically collect some information about your visit to the Website. This helps us to make improvements to the Website content and navigation. This includes the date, times and frequency with which you access the Website and the way you use and interact with its content.
we will collect your Data automatically via cookies, in line with the cookie settings on your browser. For more information about cookies, and how we use them on the Website, see “Cookies” below.

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.

Data may be used by us for the following reasons:

internal record keeping
supply goods or services that you have asked us for
process a payment you are making to us (we do not retain these details once payment has been made)
communicate with you by telephone, text, email and/or post about our activities, campaigns and events
process your application to one of our vacancies
process a donation you have made to us
make payment to you for goods or a service you have provided to us
fulfil your employment contract if you are employed by us
evaluate and report on our programmes
develop new programme proposals and plans
administer an exhibition that we are working on with you
licence images that you own
target our social media communications
make our website more relevant and user-friendly
administer our charitable programme, such as by making applications for funding
develop our strategy and policy
create marketing content, for example by sharing photographs or film of you attending one of our events (where you have been notified of photography and/or filming).

Our work is made possible by a community of supporters. To further our work, we need to meet and create relationships with new donors, influencers and prospective donors who share our vision for illustration. To enable us to do this, we may in some instances, collect (or combine your information with) publicly available information to:

assess whether you might be interested in supporting our work.
inform you about work we are doing in your local area.
identify specialists in illustration, culture, heritage or other areas to determine whether we may wish to consult with them in the course of researching, developing and delivering our programmes.
complete due diligence checks on our donors, partners and beneficiaries.

Examples of information sources we may use include:

Companies House
Charity Commission registers
directory records
employment or other professional information you have made public through social media
philanthropic information you have opted to make public through organisations you have supported
newspaper articles or other publications (offline and online)
your current or previous personal or company website.

For the delivery of direct marketing to you via email, we’ll need your consent, whether via opt-in or soft opt-in:

a soft opt-in consent is a specific type of consent which applies when you have previously engaged with us (for example, you contact us to ask us for more details about a particular product/service, and we are marketing similar products/services). Under “soft opt-in" consent, we will take your consent as given unless you opt-out.
for other types of e-marketing, we are required to obtain your explicit consent; that is, you need to take positive and affirmative action when consenting by, for example, checking a tick box that we’ll provide.
if you are not satisfied with our approach to marketing, you have the right to withdraw consent at any time. To find out how to withdraw your consent, see “Your rights”.

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(opens in new window). 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(opens in new window)-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:

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.
Right to correct – the right to have your Data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to be informed – the right to be informed about the collection and use of their personal data.
Right to erase – the right to request that we delete or remove your Data from our systems.
Right to restrict our use of your Data – the right to request the restriction or suppression of their personal data in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability – the right to request that we move, copy or transfer your Data.
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/(opens in new window).

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.

Cookies

This Website may place and access certain Cookies on your computer. Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration uses Cookies to improve your experience of using the Website and to improve our range of products. Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has carefully chosen these Cookies and has taken steps to ensure that your privacy is protected and respected at all times.

All Cookies used by this Website are used in accordance with current UK and EU Cookie Law.

Before the Website places Cookies on your computer, you will be presented with a message bar requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your consent to the placing of Cookies, you are enabling Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration to provide a better experience and service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain features of the Website may not function fully or as intended.

We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website and create internal reports. This helps us to understand who is visiting our website and how they interact with it so that we can make improvements. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. Google’s Privacy Policy(opens in new window) has more information on how they use cookies.

You can choose to enable or disable Cookies in your internet browser. By default, most internet browsers accept Cookies, but this can be changed. For further details, please see the help menu in your internet browser.

You can choose to delete Cookies at any time; however, you may lose any information that enables you to access the Website more quickly and efficiently including, but not limited to, personalisation settings.

This Website may place the following Cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.

Analytical/performance cookies

They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

Functionality cookies

These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). By using the Website, you agree to our placement of functionality cookie.

For more information generally on cookies, including how to disable them, please refer to www.aboutcookies.org(opens in new window). You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer.

It is recommended that you ensure that your internet browser is up-to-date and that you consult the help and guidance provided by the developer of your internet browser if you are unsure about adjusting your privacy settings.