Weather hits. Power fails. Performers, staff and audiences get sick. When that happens, a simple plan saves time and money. Performing arts organizations are vulnerable to a variety of natural and human-caused disasters that can threaten their sustainability through harm to people, financial loss and damage to assets. Many have not developed emergency plans due … Read More
Case Studies
Did Bonnaroo 2025 Really Need To Cancel?
Say you’ve spent hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to attend a music festival. You’ve either driven or flown hours, taken time off work, gathered and coordinated your friends, and likely been planning outfits for months to attend your favorite event of the year: Bonnaroo. Held on the idyllic location of a formerly family-owned farm in … Read More
Integrating Arts-Based Experiences for Disaster Relief:
Reflections from the APHA Conference
(Presenters from the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting’s Public Health Education and Health Promotion session on Health Innovative Practices to Improve Population Health) The Fires On August 8, 2023, historic wildfires devastated the island of Maui, Hawaii. Sparked by dry conditions, strong winds and aging infrastructure, the fires spread rapidly, leaving residents with little … Read More
Kentucky’s Blueprint for Arts Resilience: Lessons Learned from Two Disasters
Introduction: Within seven months, Kentucky’s arts communities experienced two federally declared disaster events. On the evening of December 10, 2021, 18 reported tornadoes swept through Western Kentucky. One tornado tracked across 11 counties and was deemed one of the longest in US history. Then, in late July 2022, days of rainfall led to a thousand-year … Read More
Wildfire Smoke Encroachment and the Performing Arts
Wildfire smoke has had a definite impact on communities worldwide in the past five years. The severity of wildfires exposes individuals to hazardous levels of smoke, which may lead to significant health concerns and disruptions in daily life. It is crucial to acknowledge that the impacts of wildfire smoke are multifaceted and can have far-reaching … Read More
A Phoenix Rises in the U.S. Virgin Islands – The Full Circle Story
Note: In October of 2018, dance scholar and community leader Kayla Harley wrote a PAR Case Study “Keeping Dance Alive After Loss in the U.S. Virgin Islands.” This new article brings the story full circle. It was my first time on a small charter plane. I was leaving the main island of St.Thomas, U.S. Virgin … Read More
City-Wide Emergency Planning
in Las Vegas
The Office of Cultural Affairs for the City of Las Vegas received an emergency planning grant from the Performing Arts Readiness project in 2020 to assist with the development of a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) that would address the needs of the arts community in their city. This COOP may be seen as a … Read More
Reshaping an Organization’s Structure
and Programming with a Focus on Equity
When the Madison Children’s Museum, located on Capitol Square in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, closed in March, 2020, President and CEO Deborah Gilpin had to suspend all programming, lay off 54 of its 70 employees, and cut many remaining positions to 20-hours a week. It was also in the midst of designing a new large outdoor … Read More
Pulling the Strings of Resiliency Planning
As performing arts organizations around the world shut their doors to in-person performances in early 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia was able to take advantage of our existing Digital Learning Department to expand their international virtual audience from 9 countries to over 94 countries. The … Read More
Wildfire Preparedness & Defensible Space
In these unprecedented times, with emergency situations seemingly occurring more than ever before, it is important for performing arts organizations and outdoor festivals to maintain an all-hazards focus when it comes to emergency and disaster preparedness. To stay ahead of the risk, it is useful to engage in continual risk assessment and mitigation projects accordingly. … Read More
12