Last updated: September 2026
The Arts Society uses cookies and other tracking technologies through our website (https://theartssociety.org). References to “The Arts Society”, “we” or “us” in this privacy policy include:
- The National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies, a charitable company
- NADFAS Enterprises Limited (“The Arts Society Enterprises”)
- NADFAS Tours Limited (“The Arts Society Tours”)
We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected, and this website respects any consent you have given via our cookie banner, which is displayed at the bottom of the page when you visit our website, or that you have indicated by clicking the permanent small shield located in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. This Cookies Policy should be read alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains how we use personal information.
If you have any questions about this Cookies Policy, please feel free to contact us at enquiries@theartssociety.org.
Our privacy & cookie principles
Our policy embodies the following key principles:
- Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency: We will always tell you what we track and why. We will also ask for your consent to collect non-essential cookies.
- Data minimisation: We only collect the technical tracking data we absolutely need.
- Integrity and confidence: We use secure practices to ensure your browsing data stays safe.
- Accountability: By adopting this cookie policy, we are demonstrating our responsibility for how we use cookies.
1. What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, tablet, or mobile) when a website is loaded on your browser. There are several types of cookie, each of which has a different function or use. Cookies contain details of your browsing history on the website, distinguish you from other users and remember information about you, such as your login information. Cookies send data back to the originating website on each subsequent visit or allow another website to recognise the cookie.
We use cookies to help us make the website function properly, make the website more secure, provide a better user experience, and analyse what works and where the website needs improvement.
Although this notice refers to the general term 'cookie', it also applies to similar tracking technologies that we use (such as local browser storage, tracking pixels, and third-party embedded content).
You can find out more about cookies at www.allaboutcookies.org.
2. How do we use cookies?
We use cookies on our websites to:
- Gather statistics on how our website is being used (for example, to see which pages are most popular and how users interact with them), which helps us improve it
- Work out whether the website is working well
- Ensure that our website is secure — for example, to make sure that personal information you give to us does not fall into the wrong hands
- Support the playback of embedded video content (such as YouTube videos)
- Process payments securely through our payment provider
3. What types of cookies do we use?
The cookies that we use can have different characteristics. For example:
- Session Cookies – Some of the cookies that we use are Session Cookies. These are deleted when you close your browser.
- Persistent Cookies – These cookies stay on your browser or device until they expire or until you delete them from your browser history.
All cookies have an owner. You can identify the owner by looking at the domain, which is the company or website name in the cookie.
Cookie ownership can be categorised as:
- First-party cookies: Served directly by us to your device. These are mostly necessary for the website to function the right way and do not collect any of your personally identifiable data.
- Third-party cookies: Served by our trusted partners (like Google, Stripe, and YouTube) to provide payment services, web analytics, or embedded video content.
4. The categories of cookies we use
A. Strictly necessary cookies
Some cookies are necessary or essential for the operation of our site, to maintain user sessions, and to prevent security threats. These necessary cookies are always enabled because our website won’t work properly without them. You can set your browser to block these cookies, but this will mean our website won't work as well.
B. Functional cookies
Functional cookies help us to improve your experience on our website through enhanced functionality. The cookies may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we use. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
C. Performance cookies
Performance cookies help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the website. These are non-essential cookies that are used to improve our website. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our website and will not be able to monitor its performance.]
D. Advertising, marketing, and statistics cookies (“Advertising cookies”)
Advertising cookies store information anonymously to help us understand and analyse website performance, or to deploy tags safely. They may be set through our website by our advertising partners and used by us to measure our marketing activity. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store your contact details but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet enabled device.
5. How can I control my cookie preferences?
You have the right to choose whether to accept or reject non-essential cookies.
Our cookie consent settings: When you first visit our site, a pop-up banner will ask for your preferences.
You can accept all the cookies that we use by clicking on the ‘Accept’ button on our cookie banner.
You can also opt out of all our cookies (except the strictly necessary ones) by clicking the ‘Decline’ button on our cookie banner. Please note that if you choose to refuse all cookies, our website might not work as well.
If you wish to change your mind and adjust these cookie settings at any point during your visit, you can click the permanent small shield icon located in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen to reopen the preference panel.
Your browser settings: You can typically remove or reject cookies via your browser settings. If you choose to disable cookies completely, it may affect your ability to use certain parts of our website (such as securely accessing your account or playing embedded videos).
The ‘Help’ function within your browser will tell you how, but you can also visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains information on how to do this as well as how to delete cookies. As noted above, please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of this website.
To manage cookies directly through your browser, please consult your provider's help guides:
- Internet explorer
- Google Chrome
- Mozilla Firefox
- Apple Safari
- Microsoft Edge
- iPhone and iPad
- Samsung
6. Cookie list
The tables below set out the cookies and other tracking technologies we use and for what purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
| Cookie name | Purpose | Provider | Expiry |
| SESS[unique-string] | Kept strictly to recognise you as a logged-in user so you can access your "My Account" area securely without being logged out on every page. | The Arts Society / Drupal | Automatically expires when you close your web browser or after a period of inactivity. |
| Klaro! | Stores your cookie consent choices so the website remembers whether you accepted or declined tracking cookies on your last visit. | The Arts Society | Typically 30 to 60 days. |
| __stripe_mid | Used to facilitate secure credit/debit card transactions and provide fraud prevention mechanisms during account or payment processing. | Stripe | Typically 1 year |
| __stripe_sid | Used to facilitate secure credit/debit card transactions and provide fraud prevention mechanisms during account or payment processing. | Stripe | Typically 30 minutes |
Functional Cookies
| Cookie name | Purpose | Provider | Expiry |
| VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE | Used to track views of embedded videos, remember user video player preferences, and measure performance. | YouTube / Google | Up to 8 months |
| YSC | Used to track views of embedded videos, remember user video player preferences, and measure performance. | YouTube / Google | Session cookie — expires when the session is closed. |
Performance Cookies
| Cookie name | Purpose | Provider | Expiry |
| _ga | Google Tag Manager deploys our measurement tags, while Google Analytics uses these cookies to distinguish unique website visitors and track how users move around our site anonymously. | Google Analytics 4 / Google Tag Manager | Up to 2 years |
| _ga_[container-id] | Google Tag Manager deploys our measurement tags, while Google Analytics uses these cookies to distinguish unique website visitors and track how users move around our site anonymously. | Google Analytics 4 / Google Tag Manager | Up to 2 years |
Advertising Cookies
We do not currently use cookies for advertising or retargeting purposes.
7. Updates to this policy
We may update this cookie policy from time to time – for example, to take into account changes at The Arts Society or to reflect changes in regulation or legislation.
We therefore recommend that you check this policy regularly. We aim to notify you of any significant changes by way of a notice on our website or by contacting you directly when reasonably possible.
8. Questions and contact information
If you have any questions about this cookie policy, or if you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us by emailing enquiries@theartssociety.org or by writing to us at: The Arts Society, 90 High Holborn, Office 4.55, London, WC1V 6LJ