Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy
Effective Date: August 30, 2023

Welcome to Art Sprouts! This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you visit our website, www.artsproutsart.com. We value your privacy and are committed to complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If you have any questions, you can reach us at info@artsproutsart.com.

Who We Are

Art Sprouts is a blog dedicated to art education, creativity, and inspiration. Our website is located at www.artsproutsart.com. This Privacy Policy outlines the ways we collect and handle your personal data through features such as comments, advertising, affiliate marketing, and our mailing list.

What Data We Collect and Why

1. Comments

When visitors leave comments, we collect:

  • Data entered in the comments form (e.g., name, email address).
  • The visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help with spam detection.

Your email address may be anonymized to check for Gravatar use. If approved, your profile picture, if applicable, will appear next to your comment.

By providing your data, you confirm that you are at least 16 years of age (or 13 if applicable in your country of residence). If you are under this age, you must have the explicit consent of a parent or guardian to provide personal information.

Protecting the privacy of children is important to us. We do not knowingly collect any personally identifiable information from children under the age of 13 (or under the age of 16 in the EU, where GDPR applies).

If you believe that Art Sprouts has inadvertently collected such information, please contact us at info@artsproutsart.com, and we will promptly delete it from our records.

We encourage parents and guardians to monitor and guide their children’s online activity.

2. Cookies

Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use cookies to:

  • Save your preferences (e.g., name or email for comment forms).
  • Track visitor activity for analytics and advertising purposes.

Cookies may be used by third-party services, such as advertising partners or analytics providers. You can manage cookie preferences via your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may impact your experience on our website.

Art Sprouts follows standard procedures for hosting services, which include the use of log files. These files log visitors to the site and may collect information such as:

  • Internet Protocol (IP) addresses,
  • Browser type,
  • Internet Service Provider (ISP),
  • Date/time stamps,
  • Referring/exit pages, and
  • Click activity on the site.

This information is used to analyze trends, manage the website, track visitor movements, and gather demographic data. None of this data is linked to personally identifiable information.

3. Mailing List

If you subscribe to our newsletter via Mailchimp, we collect your name and email address. These details are used exclusively to send updates, promotional content, and art-related resources. You can unsubscribe anytime via the link in the footer of our emails.

4. Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors engage with our website. This involves collecting anonymized data about website usage through cookies. You can read more about Google’s data practices here.

5. Third-Party Privacy Policies

Art Sprouts may include links to third-party services or advertisements. These third parties have their own privacy policies detailing their data collection practices. Art Sprouts’ privacy policy does not apply to these third parties, and we cannot control their activities.

We encourage you to review the privacy policies of these third parties to understand their practices and opt-out options.

For instance, you can manage your Google Ads preferences here. To disable cookies, adjust your browser settings. More details about cookie management are available at your browser’s official website.

How We Use Your Data

We use the data collected for purposes such as:

  • Improving website functionality and user experience.
  • Sending newsletters and updates (with your consent).
  • Displaying relevant advertisements.
  • Conducting website analytics to monitor and enhance performance.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

Advertising and Affiliate Marketing

We participate in affiliate marketing programs and display advertisements on our website. These programs may use cookies to track purchases or clicks that result from links on our site.

  • Affiliate Links: Clicking on an affiliate link may result in tracking cookies being placed on your browser.
  • Interest-Based Advertising: Advertisements displayed on our site may be tailored to your preferences based on browsing behavior.

To manage your ad preferences or opt out of interest-based advertising, visit Google Ad Settings.

Your Rights Under GDPR

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area (EEA), you have the following rights:

  1. Access: Request access to the personal data we hold about you.
  2. Correction: Request corrections to inaccurate personal data.
  3. Deletion: Request deletion of your data.
  4. Restriction: Request restrictions on how we process your data.
  5. Data Portability: Request that your data be transferred to another organization.
  6. Complaints: Lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority if you believe your rights have been infringed.

To exercise your rights, contact us at info@artsproutsart.com.

How Long We Retain Your Data

  • Comments: Comments and associated metadata are retained indefinitely to allow follow-up responses.
  • Mailing List: Your email address is retained until you unsubscribe from our newsletter.

If you request data deletion, we will erase your data unless required to retain it for legal, security, or administrative purposes.

Sharing Your Data

We may share your data with third-party services for the purposes of providing our services, such as:

  • Mailchimp: For managing our newsletter.
  • Google Analytics: For tracking website performance.

Visitor comments may also be checked through an automated spam detection service. We do not share your data with any unauthorized third parties.

Embedded Content

Articles on our website may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, or links to other sites). Embedded content behaves as if you visited the external website directly, which may collect data, use cookies, or track your interaction. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external sites.

How to Manage Cookies and Data

You can manage your cookies by adjusting your browser settings:

For more information about managing cookies, visit https://optout.networkadvertising.org.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as needed to reflect changes in legal requirements or our practices. Updates will be posted on this page with the effective date clearly marked.

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or would like to exercise your rights, please contact us at info@artsproutsart.com.