Ars Fidelium Academy

Ars Fidelium Academy Privacy Policy and Children’s Privacy Notice

Last updated: September 4, 2026

This Privacy Policy and Children’s Privacy Notice applies to the Ars Fidelium Academy at academy.arsfidelium.com (the “Academy”), operated by Ars Fidelium LLC (“Ars Fidelium,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). It explains what personal information we collect, how we use and disclose it, how long we retain it, and the choices available to parents, guardians, students, and other users. It also applies to student artwork submitted through the Academy and to any later gallery or promotional use of that submission by Ars Fidelium.

The Academy is an online Catholic art-education service designed for families. An adult parent or legal guardian must enroll the family and create each student account. This policy applies only to the Academy. The public website at arsfidelium.com may have a separate privacy policy governing its contact forms, mailing list, and marketing technologies.

1. Information We Collect

Parent or Guardian Information

When an adult enrolls a family, creates or uses a parent account, makes a payment, or contacts us, we may collect:

  • Name, email address, username, and password;
  • Billing address and other information entered during checkout, if requested;
  • Membership, enrollment, transaction, invoice, and account-status information;
  • Family-group and student-account relationships;
  • Communications with Ars Fidelium, including support requests; and
  • Choices and authorizations made during enrollment, student setup, and optional student-artwork submissions.

Passwords are stored in hashed form. We cannot view an account holder’s password.

Student Information

A parent or legal guardian provides the information used to create each student account. We collect only the information reasonably necessary to create and operate that account:

  • First name;
  • Last initial;
  • Parent-selected username;
  • Parent-selected password, stored in hashed form;
  • The student’s association with the parent account and family group;
  • Course enrollment, lesson completion, progress, and related learning records; and
  • Login, security, and technical information described below.

The Academy does not ask a student to provide a personal email address, full last name, home address, telephone number, date of birth, precise geolocation, photograph or video of the student, audio recording, or government identifier. Managed student accounts use a non-deliverable internal email address and do not receive email directly from Ars Fidelium. The optional Student Art Gallery process described below permits a logged-in parent or legal guardian—not the student acting independently—to submit a photograph of the student’s artwork.

The Academy does not currently provide public student profiles, chat, comments, student-to-student messaging, or a feature that permits students to make personal information publicly available.

Student Artwork Submissions

A logged-in parent or legal guardian may voluntarily submit student artwork for possible inclusion in the members-only Student Art Gallery. The submission form may collect:

  • The Ars Fidelium project title;
  • A photograph showing the artwork;
  • A parent-selected display line consisting of a first name, initials, saint name, or pseudonym and a broad age band;
  • An optional brief student artist note about the artwork, process, or lesson;
  • The submitting parent’s Academy user ID and email address;
  • The parent’s gallery authorization, photograph-privacy confirmation, and separate choice concerning public or promotional use; and
  • Submission date, Internet Protocol (IP) address, and related technical information used for security, administration, and consent records.

Parents must submit an image of the artwork only. The image and artist note must not include the student’s face, surname, signature containing a surname, school, exact location, contact information, account information, or an identifying background. Ars Fidelium reviews submissions before publication and may edit display text, decline a submission, or remove identifying details.

Payment Information

Payments are processed by Stripe. Stripe collects payment-card and other payment information directly. Ars Fidelium does not receive or store a complete card number or card security code. We receive transaction details needed to confirm payment, administer the membership, issue receipts or invoices, prevent fraud, and maintain business and tax records.

Technical Information

When a parent or student uses the Academy, we and the service providers that support the Academy may automatically receive:

  • Internet Protocol (IP) address;
  • Browser and device type;
  • Operating system;
  • Login and access times;
  • Pages, lessons, and videos accessed;
  • Cookie, session, and security identifiers; and
  • Error, performance, and security logs.

Parent-facing areas of the Academy may contain affiliate links to third-party suppliers. An affiliate link may include a referral identifier indicating that the visit originated through Ars Fidelium. If a parent selects such a link, the parent’s browser will connect to the affiliate network and supplier, which may receive the referral identifier, Internet Protocol (IP) address, referring page, browser or device information, date and time of the request, and cookies or other identifiers used under their own privacy practices. Ars Fidelium may later receive reports concerning attributed clicks, transactions, commissions, and related performance information. Ars Fidelium does not receive complete payment-card information from the supplier through the affiliate program.

We use this information to authenticate users, maintain lesson progress, deliver video and course content, secure the Academy, troubleshoot problems, and support the internal operation of the service.

2. How We Use Information

We use personal information to:

  • Create and administer parent, student, and family accounts;
  • Confirm eligibility for Academy access;
  • Deliver courses, lessons, videos, downloads, and other membership benefits;
  • Record and display student enrollment and lesson progress to the student’s parent or legal guardian;
  • Receive, review, administer, and display parent-authorized artwork submissions in the members-only Student Art Gallery;
  • Use a submitted artwork image in public or promotional materials only when the parent separately authorizes that use;
  • Process payments and provide receipts and invoices;
  • Administer affiliate relationships, attribute qualifying referrals and purchases, calculate or verify commissions, evaluate the usefulness of supplier recommendations, maintain business records, and prevent fraud;
  • Send account, password, student-setup, payment, supply, access, and other service-related notices to parents;
  • Respond to questions and provide customer support;
  • Protect the security and integrity of the Academy;
  • Diagnose errors and maintain reliable service;
  • Enforce our agreements and prevent misuse or fraud; and
  • Comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.

We do not use student information for targeted advertising, behavioral profiling, third-party marketing, or marketing directly to students. Ars Fidelium may use a submitted artwork image in its own public or promotional materials only with the parent’s separate affirmative authorization as described in Section 4. Affiliate information is not used by Ars Fidelium to advertise to students or create behavioral profiles of students.

3. Children’s Privacy and Parental Consent

The Academy is intended to be used by children only under the direction and authorization of a parent or legal guardian. Students cannot create their own Academy accounts. A purchasing adult must first create and authenticate a parent account. Before creating student accounts, the adult must affirm that the adult is each listed student’s parent or legal guardian and authorize the creation and operation of the accounts.

For a student under age 13, the parent or legal guardian provides the student’s first name, last initial, username, and password. When the student uses the Academy, we collect course enrollment, lesson-progress, login, and technical information necessary to provide and secure the service. We use that information only for the purposes described in this policy.

We disclose student information only to service providers that perform functions integral to operating the Academy, such as website hosting, security, backup, form processing, email delivery, and video delivery; to the limited audiences specifically authorized by a parent for an optional artwork submission; or when disclosure is required by law. We do not sell student information, use it for targeted advertising, or permit students to disclose it publicly through the Academy.

Submitting artwork is optional and must be completed through a logged-in parent account. Before an artwork submission is accepted, the parent must authorize display in the members-only Student Art Gallery and confirm that the image contains no prohibited identifying information. A separate required choice allows the parent to grant or deny public and promotional use. Declining public or promotional use does not affect enrollment, course access, or eligibility for the members-only gallery.

A parent or legal guardian may contact us at any time to:

  • Review the personal information maintained about the parent’s child;
  • Correct inaccurate information;
  • Request deletion of the child’s personal information and account;
  • Withdraw permission for further collection or use; or
  • Ask questions about our collection, use, or disclosure practices.

To make a request, email info@arsfidelium.com with the subject line Privacy Request and include the parent-account email address and the student username involved. Do not send a password. We may take reasonable steps to verify that the requester is the parent or legal guardian associated with the student account before providing, changing, or deleting information.

If a parent withdraws consent or requests deletion of information necessary to operate an account, the student will no longer be able to use the Academy. We will not require a child to provide more personal information than is reasonably necessary to participate in the Academy.

4. Student Art Gallery and Optional Promotional Use

Members-Only Student Art Gallery

With the submitting parent’s authorization, Ars Fidelium may display the artwork photograph, project title, approved display line, and optional artist note in the Student Art Gallery. Gallery pages and individual gallery posts are restricted to authenticated Academy members. Other members may view, save, photograph, screenshot, or otherwise capture displayed material. Ars Fidelium cannot control copies made by authorized viewers.

Artwork images are stored as WordPress media files and may have separate media-file URLs. Restricting the gallery page and artwork post does not guarantee that a person who obtains a direct file URL will be required to sign in. Parents should therefore submit only artwork-only images that contain none of the identifying information prohibited above. Ars Fidelium does not promise absolute confidentiality for a submitted artwork image.

Optional Public and Promotional Use

The artwork form presents a separate choice concerning public and promotional use. If the parent selects “No,” Ars Fidelium will not intentionally use the submission on public social media or in promotional materials, although the separately authorized members-only gallery use may continue.

If the parent selects “Yes,” Ars Fidelium may reproduce and display that submitted artwork on the public Ars Fidelium website, official social-media accounts, email newsletters, advertisements, and other digital or printed promotional materials. Ars Fidelium may crop, resize, or format the photograph without materially altering the artwork. Public use will not include the student’s surname, face, school, exact location, contact information, account information, or another identifying detail. Public display may identify the work only by its project title and a broad age range. This authorization remains in effect unless and until the parent withdraws it.

Promotional authorization is nonexclusive and royalty-free; the student retains ownership of the artwork. A parent may withdraw permission for promotional use at any time by following the procedure in Section 3. Following a verified withdrawal, Ars Fidelium will stop making new promotional uses and, where reasonably practicable, remove the image from current webpages and social-media posts under Ars Fidelium’s control within a reasonable period. Withdrawal does not require Ars Fidelium to recall printed materials already distributed, retract emails already sent, or remove copies, screenshots, cached files, or shares controlled by other people or platforms.

5. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Academy uses cookies and similar technologies that are necessary to:

  • Keep users signed in;
  • Authenticate accounts and prevent unauthorized access;
  • Remember essential preferences;
  • Record course and lesson progress;
  • Protect forms and prevent fraud or abuse; and
  • Deliver embedded instructional videos and other requested content.

Instructional videos are delivered through the embedded Vimeo player. When a video loads or plays, Vimeo may receive an IP address, device and browser information, playback information, and cookies or similar identifiers needed to provide and secure the player.

Affiliate Links and Third-Party Supplier Sites

Parent-facing areas of the Academy may contain paid links to third-party suppliers, including Blick Art Materials. These links may be administered through CJ Affiliate, operated by Commission Junction LLC or its affiliated companies. If a parent selects an affiliate link and makes a qualifying purchase, Ars Fidelium may receive a commission at no additional cost to the purchaser.

An ordinary affiliate hyperlink may redirect the parent through CJ Affiliate before opening the supplier’s website. CJ Affiliate, the supplier, and their service providers may use referral identifiers, cookies, or similar technologies to attribute the visit or transaction. Those technologies operate under the third parties’ own privacy notices and choices once the link is selected and the parent leaves the Academy.

Ars Fidelium does not intentionally embed CJ Affiliate tracking scripts, pixels, widgets, or advertising cookies in student-facing course content. Affiliate links are provided for parents’ supply purchasing and are not used by Ars Fidelium to deliver targeted advertising to students.

The Academy does not use the Meta Pixel, Google Analytics, or cross-site behavioral advertising technologies within Academy pages. Ars Fidelium does not use affiliate information for targeted advertising to students. If we materially change these practices, we will update this policy and obtain any notice, consent, or parental authorization required before applying the change to children’s information.

Most browsers allow users to control cookies, but disabling cookies that are necessary for authentication or video delivery may prevent parts of the Academy from working.

6. Service Providers and Other Third Parties

Ars Fidelium uses service providers to operate the Academy. Depending on the service used, these providers may collect, process, transmit, or maintain personal information on our behalf or as necessary to provide their services.

The principal providers associated with Academy information are:

  • WP Engine, Inc., for website hosting, infrastructure, security, and backups;
  • Vimeo.com, Inc., for embedded instructional-video hosting and delivery;
  • Stripe, Inc., for parent payment processing, fraud prevention, receipts, and transaction records; and
  • Namecheap, Inc. (Namecheap Private Email), for delivery of account, enrollment, password-reset, purchase-confirmation, and other service-related emails;

CJ Affiliate and participating suppliers. Parent-facing Academy pages may link to participating suppliers such as Blick Art Materials through affiliate links administered by CJ Affiliate. CJ Affiliate and the supplier are independent third parties rather than providers entrusted with student account or educational-record information. When a parent selects an affiliate link, those third parties may receive referral and technical information and process it according to their own privacy notices. Ars Fidelium may receive affiliate reports concerning attributed clicks, qualifying transactions, and commissions.

The Academy also uses WordPress, MemberPress, LearnDash, and Forminator software to manage accounts, memberships, courses, progress, forms, and artwork submissions. Information processed through those systems is ordinarily maintained in the Academy’s hosted WordPress database and Media Library. A software provider may receive limited information if needed for licensing, updates, diagnostics, or support.

When a parent separately authorizes public or promotional use of an artwork submission, the image may also be disclosed to the public; visitors to Ars Fidelium’s public website; recipients of Ars Fidelium emails, advertisements, or printed materials; and users and operators of social-media platforms on which Ars Fidelium maintains an official account, such as Facebook and Instagram operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. Those platforms may process public content and related technical information under their own terms and privacy policies.

Ars Fidelium LLC is the operator designated to respond to all privacy inquiries from parents concerning these providers and the Academy. The contact information appears in Section 14 below.

7. When We Disclose Information

We may disclose personal information:

  • To the service providers described above when reasonably necessary to operate, secure, and support the Academy;
  • To CJ Affiliate, participating suppliers such as Blick Art Materials, and their service providers when a parent voluntarily selects an affiliate link, for referral attribution, conversion measurement, commission administration, reporting, and fraud prevention;
  • To a parent or legal guardian in connection with that parent’s student accounts and progress reports;
  • To authenticated Academy members when a parent voluntarily authorizes an artwork submission for the members-only Student Art Gallery;
  • To the public, promotional audiences, and relevant publishing platforms when a parent separately authorizes public and promotional use of a submitted artwork image;
  • To professional advisers such as accountants, attorneys, insurers, or auditors when reasonably necessary and subject to appropriate confidentiality obligations;
  • To comply with a subpoena, court order, law, or lawful government request;
  • To investigate fraud, security incidents, violations of our agreements, or threats to the safety or rights of Ars Fidelium or others; or
  • In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, or sale of all or part of the business, subject to appropriate privacy protections and applicable law.

Ars Fidelium does not sell or rent parent or student account information. We do not disclose student account information, educational records, or artwork submissions to CJ Affiliate or participating suppliers for affiliate marketing, targeted advertising, or unrelated commercial purposes. The technical and referral information transmitted when a parent voluntarily selects an affiliate link is described in Sections 1, 5, and 6.

8. Data Retention and Deletion

We retain personal information only for the specific purposes and business needs described below. We do not retain children’s personal information indefinitely.

  • Student account identifiers and learning records: We retain the student’s first name, last initial, username, family relationship, course enrollment, and lesson-progress information while the family has Academy access. We may retain it for up to 12 months after paid access ends so that a family can renew without losing account continuity or progress. Unless continued retention is required by law or needed to resolve a documented security, payment, or legal matter, we will delete or de-identify this information within 30 days after that 12-month period ends.
  • Student passwords: A password submitted during setup is used to create the account and is not retained in readable form. Only a one-way password hash is stored while the account exists. It is deleted when the account is deleted, subject to the backup period below.
  • Login, technical, and security records: We retain these records for security, troubleshooting, abuse prevention, and reliable operation for no longer than 12 months after collection, unless a particular record must be retained longer to investigate or document a security incident, comply with law, or establish or defend a legal claim.
  • Support communications involving a student: We retain them for up to three years after the request is resolved so that we can document the resolution, recognize recurring account problems, and protect the parties’ legal rights. We delete them sooner when they are no longer reasonably necessary.
  • Student artwork, gallery records, and gallery consent records: We retain the submitted artwork photograph, project title, approved display line, optional artist note, parent account identifiers, gallery authorization, photograph-privacy confirmation, promotional-use choice, gallery post, administrative submission record, and related notification email while the family has Academy access. This allows students and families to view the student’s artistic development throughout the program. We may retain these materials for up to 12 months after paid access ends so that a family may renew, restore account continuity, or save and review the student’s work. Unless the parent requests earlier removal or continued retention is required by law or needed to resolve a documented security or legal matter, the gallery post, associated gallery image in the WordPress Media Library, Forminator submission, consent record, related notification email, and reasonably accessible administrative copies will be deleted by the end of that 12-month period, subject to the backup period below.
  • Separately authorized promotional artwork: When a parent affirmatively authorizes public or promotional use, Ars Fidelium may retain a non-identifying promotional copy of the artwork and the minimum record reasonably necessary to document that authorization after the corresponding gallery materials are deleted. These materials may be retained while the authorization remains in effect and Ars Fidelium continues to maintain the artwork for an authorized promotional purpose. If the parent withdraws permission, Ars Fidelium will handle current and future uses as described in Section 4. Previously distributed print materials, emails already sent, and copies, screenshots, cached files, or shares controlled by other people or platforms may remain.
  • Artwork-form IP records: An IP address recorded with an artwork-form submission is retained for no longer than seven days for security and troubleshooting and is then scheduled for deletion from the form submission record.
  • Parent account and membership information: We retain ordinary parent-profile information while the account or membership remains active and for up to 12 months after access ends to permit renewal and account restoration. Transaction, invoice, tax, refund, and accounting records may be retained for up to seven years, or longer if required by law.
  • Affiliate records: We may retain reports concerning affiliate clicks, attributed transactions, commissions, reversals, and payments for as long as reasonably necessary to administer the affiliate relationship, investigate attribution or fraud, and maintain tax, accounting, and contractual records. Transaction and commission records may be retained for up to seven years, or longer if required by law. CJ Affiliate and participating suppliers determine their own retention periods for information they process under their respective privacy notices.
  • Website backups: Deleted information may remain in restricted website backups for up to 30 additional days. Backups are used only for disaster recovery, security, and service restoration and are overwritten on a rolling basis.

A verified parent may request earlier deletion of a child’s information or a submitted artwork. We will honor the request unless retention is required by law or is reasonably necessary to complete a transaction, address fraud or security, resolve a dispute, or establish or defend a legal claim. A request to remove an artwork will include the gallery post, Media Library image, associated submission and authorization record, and reasonably accessible Ars Fidelium-controlled promotional copies covered by the request. When an applicable exception ends, we will delete the information in accordance with the schedule above.

9. Data Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect personal information. These include account authentication, role-based access, encrypted transmission, limited administrative access, software maintenance, security monitoring, and backups.

No system can guarantee absolute security. Parents and students should use unique passwords, keep login credentials confidential, and notify us promptly if they suspect unauthorized access.

10. Email Communications

We send parents transactional or service-related emails concerning enrollment, payments, passwords, student setup, account access, supplies, course availability, artwork submissions, and other matters necessary to provide the Academy. Administrative artwork-submission notifications may contain an inline preview of the submitted artwork and the information entered on the form. These messages are not optional marketing emails and may continue while an account, transaction, or submission remains active.

If a parent separately chooses to receive promotional or program-update emails, the parent may unsubscribe through the link in those messages. Unsubscribing from marketing does not stop necessary account, payment, security, or service communications.

We do not send marketing email directly to managed student accounts.

11. Privacy Rights

Depending on where a user lives, applicable law may provide rights to request access to, correction of, deletion of, or a copy of personal information, or to withdraw consent or appeal a decision concerning a privacy request.

Parents may exercise these rights for themselves and, when legally authorized, for their children by following the procedure in Section 3. This includes requesting review or deletion of a student-artwork submission and withdrawing gallery or promotional permission. We will not discriminate against a person for exercising a privacy right. We may verify identity and authority before acting on a request and will respond within the period required by applicable law.

Ars Fidelium does not sell parent or student account information or use student information for targeted advertising. Affiliate links are optional, and parents may avoid affiliate tracking by purchasing directly from a supplier without selecting an Ars Fidelium affiliate link. Depending on where a parent lives, the affiliate network or supplier may also provide privacy choices under its own privacy notice.

12. International Users

Ars Fidelium is based in Oregon, United States. Personal information may be processed and stored in the United States and in other locations where our service providers operate. Those locations may have privacy laws different from those in a user’s home jurisdiction.

Where applicable, we process adult personal information to perform our contract with the enrolling parent, comply with legal obligations, pursue legitimate interests such as security and service administration, or based on consent. Children’s information is processed pursuant to the authorization and consent of the child’s parent or legal guardian and as otherwise permitted by applicable law. Where applicable, adult affiliate-referral information may be processed based on consent or Ars Fidelium’s legitimate interests in administering supplier recommendations and commission payments. CJ Affiliate and participating suppliers determine their own legal bases for information they process independently.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as the Academy, our service providers, or legal requirements change. We will post the revised policy on this page and update the date above. If a change materially affects how we collect, use, or disclose children’s personal information, we will provide direct notice to affected parents and obtain new consent when required before applying the change.

14. Contact and Operator Information

Ars Fidelium LLC is the operator of the Academy and the point of contact for privacy and children’s-data inquiries.

Ars Fidelium LLC
PO Box 12311
Salem, Oregon 97309
United States
Telephone: (503) 877-4411
Email: info@arsfidelium.com

For privacy requests, use the subject line Privacy Request. Please do not send passwords, complete payment-card information, or other sensitive information by email.