The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture has released a guide to arts-based work responding to disasters or other community-wide emergencies. The guide is intended for artists, emergency management agencies, funders, policy-makers, and communities responding to natural and civil emergencies with the intent to help communities organize and respond with care, compassion, and impact. Read Art Became the Oxygen: A Guide to Artistic Response.
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.
by Monica
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has recently published How to Do Creative Placemaking: An Action-Oriented Guide to Arts in Community Development. The book features 28 essays from thought leaders active in arts-based community development as well as 13 case studies of projects funded through the NEA’s creative placemaking program, Our Town.
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by Monica
From The Advocate:
The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge is offering Creative Relief grants to professional artists and nonprofit arts and culture organizations that were adversely affected by the flood.
Individuals and organizations with a history of arts programming whose sites, materials, equipment or collections were damaged in the recent flooding may apply.
by Monica
South Arts has published a list of resources for artists and arts venues in preparation for Hurricane Matthew in the southeastern United States. Resources include AgilityRecovery’s hurricane readiness checklist, the CERF+ Studio Protector online guide, and resources from FEMA and American Red Cross.
by Monica
National Endowment for the Arts has released a summary of proceedings from a convening entitled “Readiness and Resiliency: Advancing a Collaborative and National Strategy for the Arts in Times of Emergencies” held on April 19, 2016 in Washington, DC. The NEA convened a cross-sector panel of experts working in the arena of arts and emergency readiness to outline strategies to advance the work.
by SuJ'n
The National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response has recently updated the Essential Guidelines for Arts Responders Organizing in the Aftermath of Disaster: How to Help and Support your Local Artists, Arts-related Small Businesses, and Arts Organizations. This is a primer for state and local arts councils, arts service organizations, community foundations, and other non-profit groups to effectively assist artists and arts organizations impacted by Hurricane Joaquin and other disasters across the country.
by Steve
Wildfires have devastated various parts of California in recent days, and artists and arts communities are among those affected. The California Arts Council has assembled some information that may be useful to those impacted, as well as others who would like to help and need guidance as to how.
by Steve
Record rainfalls, flooding and tornadoes continue to plague the country’s mid-section. And your GIA peers who are involved in the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response are offering expertise and assistance to artists and cultural organizations affected by the extreme weather.
Theresa Scanlan of American for the Arts has been in touch many of the local arts agencies in Texas and Oklahoma to assess how and where aid is needed.
by Steve
This message is going out to CERF+'s contacts in the areas of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas affected by flooding recently, as well as statewide arts organizations. We hope you and your neighbors are safe and have been able to avoid loss from the flooding.
These are the sooty days and nights of fire, ashes and displacement. The aftermath of loss is reassessment and ultimately, response. We artists — poets, musicians, painters, photographers, craftspeople, writers, graphic designers, actors, sculptors, singers — possess the skills that can unpack the events and emotions brought forward by the devastating inferno of 2007. Our skills will also help us imagine a new San Diego. Our creative response to this tragedy serves neighbors, but our colleagues, students, and ourselves as well. We have not suffered more than others. Instead we suffer in league with our fellow San Diegans. We must help them cope, recover and flourish anew.
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