Emergency Readiness, Response, and Recovery

While artists and arts organizations often play an active role in the healing process after disasters, the frequency of 21st century emergencies has also demonstrated that the arts and culture sector itself is highly vulnerable. Time and time again, creative careers and creative economies have suffered great loss and devastation, which has often included severe damage of unique cultural artifacts and venues. Cultural workers and arts organizations are generally underprepared for emergencies, and underserved when disasters strike.

National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness and Emergency Response

The Coalition is a cross-disciplinary, voluntary task force involving over 20 arts organizations (artist/art-focused organizations, arts agencies and arts funders) and individual artists, co-chaired by CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund + Artists’ Emergency Resources) and South Arts. Coalition participants are committed to a combined strategy of resource development, educational empowerment, and public policy advocacy designed to ensure that there is an organized, nationwide safety net for artists and the arts organizations that serve them before, during and after disasters. Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) members active with the Coalition have been meeting at GIA’s annual conference to guide and educate foundations, arts agencies, art service organizations and corporate grantmakers interested in becoming more emergency ready and effective in their emergency relief efforts and grantmaking. Click here for the executive summary of the Coalition’s 2014-2020 plan.

Recommended Resources & Publications

If you are currently working in an area affected by an emergency, the Coalition’s Essential Guidelines for Arts Responders is your first step.

April 20, 2023 by Jaime Sharp

From Lyrasis: Emergency response and preparedness for performing arts organizations can be a difficult task for individual organizations. This free 2 hour webinar will demonstrate how working with multiple organizations in a network for disaster management can be accomplished. The history of networking for improved emergency preparedness in the cultural heritage, arts, and government sectors will be examined, with an exploration of existing networks.

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April 10, 2023 by Jaime Sharp

From American Alliance of Museums: Over the past several years, museums have faced widespread and systemic challenges that have fundamentally changed the way our institutions serve their communities.

We're pleased to share the release of Reopenings: What Museums Learned Leading through Crisis, a special series of in-depth reports with case studies and multimedia examining some of the long-term lessons, mindsets, and practices museums have learned and adopted from their handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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April 5, 2023 by Jaime Sharp

From the Kentucky Arts Council: Disasters and emergencies are among the largest threats to the careers of artists and livelihood of arts organizations across the country. Yet addressing these issues falls to the bottom of the to-do list when skies are blue and danger is out-of-sight. Join a 5-part series from the Kentucky Arts Council exploring important topics and issues related to emergency and disaster readiness, response and recovery in the arts. The series will culminate with an online event hosted by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

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April 3, 2023 by Jaime Sharp

Good morning family,

Thank you to everyone that reached out to check on us down here in Mississippi after the devastating tornadoes Friday night. My family and Sipp Culture are safe and were not directly impacted by the storms. However, as you have seen on the news, our extended community has been severely impacted and will be in relief and recovery mode for years to come.

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September 13, 2022 by Jaime Sharp

"VermontBiz Creative Futures Grants, with $9 million in funding from Vermont’s last legislative session, will be available beginning Thursday, Sept. 15, to help the creative sector recover from economic losses due to the pandemic."

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May 13, 2022 by Jaime Sharp

The Ford Foundation has released a report that, "offers a roadmap to reimagine recovery."

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December 16, 2021 by Steve

Earlier this month, Candid and the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) released the eighth edition of its annual Measuring the State of Disaster Philanthropy report. In it, they examined available 2019 data on global disaster-related philanthropy, analyzing funding from foundations, bilateral and multilateral donors, the U.S. federal government, corporations, and donations through donor-advised funds (DAFs) and online platforms.

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November 4, 2021 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

The Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) announced recently that it received $3 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for APAP ArtsForward, a new program to support the performing arts field’s safe, vibrant, and equitable reopening and recovery.

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August 2, 2021 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust awarded recently more than $2 million to 26 performing arts organizations to "help strengthen performing arts organizations’ re-emergence following severe disruption caused by the pandemic and provide vitally important access," according to the press release.

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July 26, 2021 by Carmen Graciela Díaz

Philadelphia's arts and cultural organizations response to the pandemic and what's next is at the center of a recent article at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

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