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.
South Arts launched recently the South Arts Resilience Fund, a part of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund. Through this fund, states the announcement, South Arts will provide grants of $30,000 - $100,000 "supporting the long-term resilience of under-resourced, visionary, and impactful" arts and culture organizations across the nine-state primary service area of AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, and TN.
Read More...The Center for Cultural Power presented recently "NoGoingBack: A COVID-19 Cultural Strategy Activation Guide for Artists and Activists" to inspire creation and disruption in moments when "a global pandemic has magnified the flaws of our capitalist system, but, also, the power art and culture to uplift, disrupt and build community."
Read More...The recently launched Momentum Fund seeks to support nonprofit organizations managing active COVID-19 relief and recovery funds that are helping communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read More...Before the coronavirus pandemic, the city of Newark had created its first arts grant program, the Creative Catalyst Fund, and an art space initiative to fill up to five city-owned properties. Three months later, the art space initiative was put on hold as city officials and the nonprofit Newark Arts retooled the grant "to respond to needs of the local arts community in light of COVID-19," as Next City recently reported.
Read More...No matter the community where we live, the coronavirus pandemic has quickly exposed the already-rampant inequity in America, as a recent article in Forbes stated.
Read More...The full transcript of this podcast is published below.
Explore the full GIA podcast.
Deborah Fisher, the founding executive director of A Blade of Grass, explores in an article in Artnet how the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown may present an opportunity to change how the art ecosystem functions.
Read More...The national board of directors and team of Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) extends our fellowship to all those impacted by our nation’s increasing emergencies and disasters.
Read More...In GIA's March 19 webinar “Emergency Preparedness and Response: COVID19 and the Arts Ecosystem,” Caitlin Strokosch, president & CEO of the National Performance Network (NPN), reflected on the importance for the philanthropic field of not going back to "normal."
Read More...The Flamboyan Arts Fund and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from Broadway Cares, launched a $1 million emergency relief fund to support individual artists and cultural organizations in Puerto Rico to help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and culture sector in the island.
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