1. General 

Sydney Improvised Music Association Incorporated (SIMA, we or us) recognises that your privacy and the protection of your personal information is important to you. This policy sets out how we collect, use, disclose and secure your personal information. It also sets out your rights to access and correct your personal information held by us.

At SIMA, we take our privacy obligations seriously and are committed to ensuring that we handle personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act).

2. What is personal information?

Personal information is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

3. Collection of your personal information

We collect personal information relating to our patrons, subscribers and artists, and visitors to our website, for our business purposes, which include presenting shows and tours, ticketing, operating our website, our newsletter, electronic direct mail, donor lists, other promotional and communication purposes, and handling complaints. We will always give you an opportunity to opt-in to, and to opt-out of, any such marketing activities.

SIMA may collect personal information including (but not limited to) your name, job title, email address, postal address, phone number and bank details. We may collect from our artists personal information including (but not limited to) a copy of your passport.

SIMA may make a record of information relating to your visit to our website. Such information may include your server address, domain name, IP address, the date and time of your visit, pages accessed, and documents downloaded.

If you send an email to any of our staff, we will record your email address.  We will only use your email address for the purpose for which it was provided, and for any other purpose for which you would reasonably expect us to use it.  We will not use your email address for any other purpose without your express consent.

In certain circumstances, we may also collect your personal information from selected third parties (such as our partner presenting organisations), where you have consented to this.

SIMA will not collect personal information in a way that would be unlawful or where such information is unnecessary or unrelated to our functions, activities or business.

4. Sensitive information

SIMA does not actively collect any sensitive information such as information relating to your membership of political bodies, religion or trade unions, sexual preferences or activities, criminal record, state of health or medical history.

SIMA does not actively collect any sensitive information with regards to your racial or ethnic origin – except when artists have consented for this information to be associated with them in grant reporting or public marketing material.

If SIMA holds any sensitive personal information about you, that information will only be used and disclosed by SIMA for the purpose that it was provided by you.

5. Use and disclosure of your personal information

We use the personal information we collect for our business purposes, to fulfil our legal obligations and to keep our subscribers and patrons informed of our activities and other relevant information regarding SIMA.

SIMA will only use or disclose your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected, for another, related purpose for which you would reasonably expect us to use it, or for any other purpose with your consent (whether express or implied).

SIMA may from time to time send you marketing material that we consider may be of interest to you, including information about our activities. If you do not wish to receive this information, you can let us know and we will not send it to you.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes without your permission.

Except as specified elsewhere in this policy, depending on the purpose of collection, your personal information may only be disclosed to any other person or entity authorised and specified by you.

Depending on the purpose of collection, your personal information may be disclosed to:

a) the Commonwealth Government in accordance with the requirements of our funding agreements;
b) external service providers (on a confidential basis and in circumstances where those service providers may only use your information for the purpose of SIMA’s activities), including organisations which we collaborate with or subcontract to in order to deliver our services to you and specialist advisers that SIMA has engaged to provide us with legal, accounting, administrative, financial, insurance, research, marketing or other services; and
c) any other person authorised and specified by you.

SIMA may use or disclose your personal information (including any sensitive information):

a) where required or authorised by or under an Australian law (including the Privacy Act) or an order of a court or tribunal;
b) in accordance with the Privacy Act, including where we hold a reasonable belief that the use or disclosure is required for certain enforcement or health and safety purposes, or that use or disclosure is necessary in relation to certain suspected unlawful activity or misconduct; or
c) if reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim or for the purposes of confidential alternative dispute resolution, and only to the extent reasonably necessary.

You may, in some circumstances, have the option of not identifying yourself or using a pseudonym when you deal with SIMA, such as if you are making a general enquiry about us. However, if you choose not to provide your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with a service you request.

6. Cookies and analytics

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. The cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs and preferences by collecting and remembering information about you.

We use cookies to provide our website and to identify which pages are being used and how you use them. This helps us analyse information about web page traffic and improve our website by tailoring it to your needs. A cookie does not give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you provide to us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. This may, however, prevent you from using the full capabilities of the website.

We may also use third-party analytics tools, including Google Analytics and Facebook Ads, to provide us with information about how you use our website. These analytics tools may place or access cookies on your device, which allows them to monitor your web browsing activity. More information regarding the services provided by Google, including its privacy policy and information about opting out is available on its website: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

7. Storage and security of your personal information

SIMA may hold your personal information in a number of different formats, including software programs (located both onsite and offsite, including in the cloud), databases, filing systems and in offsite backup storage. SIMA currently uses hosting services provided by third parties, including Mailchimp, AirTable and SharePoint.

SIMA is committed to ensuring that the information you provide is secure and we take all reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, modification, disclosure or misuse. However, we cannot ensure the security of any information that you transmit to us over the internet and you do so at your own risk.

8. Access to your personal information

At any time, you may request access to personal information about you that SIMA holds by contacting us using the details below. SIMA will process your request within a reasonable time. We will generally give you access to your personal information, and if we do not we will take reasonable steps to meet your needs (for example by letting you know generally the kind of information we hold about you). We will also give you the reasons why your request has been refused and advise you on avenues to make a complaint.

9. Correction of your personal information

You should notify SIMA if there are any changes to your personal information. You may ask SIMA at any time to correct personal information we hold about you by contacting us using the details below.

10. Complaints

Please notify us if you have any complaints relating to SIMA’s handling of your personal information. SIMA will investigate all complaints and respond to you within a reasonable time and in accordance with its legal obligations.

11. Changes to this policy

This policy was last updated on 20 July 2022.

SIMA may amend this policy by publishing a revised policy on our website.  Any changes will be effective as of the date they are published.

12. Links to other websites

Our websites and social media pages may contain links to other websites of interest. Please note that we do not have any control over those websites. We are not responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such websites and such websites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.

13. Contact details and further information

If you have any questions in relation to privacy or you wish to access or correct your personal information, please contact us directly by email at privacy@sima.org.au.

For further information about privacy issues, see the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s website at http://www.oaic.gov.au.