Sample Emergency Plans

Planning for emergencies is vital for the survival of performing arts organizations. Planning will aid an organization in preventing emergencies, reducing their impact, and will speed recovery and resumption of operations following an emergency.

Some of the barriers to emergency planning by performing arts organizations have been a lack of awareness of the need for planning and access to resources. Many organizations have expressed a desire to see examples of emergency plans that were created for performing arts organizations. Sample emergency preparedness and disaster plans that were created as part of the first phase of the Performing Arts Readiness (PAR) project are downloadable from this webpage. Confidential information from these sample plans has been redacted or deleted.

These sample plans are made available for organizations to use as models for their own plans. While the content and structure of these samples may not exactly match your organization’s needs, you may find it valuable to use elements from several to help develop your plan.

These plans are made available by PAR under the Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). You are free to copy, distribute, and display this work under the following conditions:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • No Derivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.

More information about this license is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Here are the sample plans available for download:

  1. The Continuity of Operations Plan for the Office of Cultural Affairs for the City of Las Vegas may be downloaded here.
  2. The Theatricum Botanicum Emergency Preparedness, Management, and Continuity Plan covers a performing arts organization that maintains two outdoor amphitheaters. This plan may be downloaded here.
  3. The Dance Theatre of Harlem Emergency Preparedness Plan covers a dance organization that presents, teaches, as well as rents space to other organizations. This plan may be downloaded here.
  4. The DANCECleveland Readiness Plan covers a dance organization that presents performances in four rented locations. This plan may be downloaded here.
  5. The Gibney Center's Reopening Plan covers the reopening of two Performing Arts Centers while responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This plan may be downloaded here.
  6. The STREB Emergency Action Plan covers a dance company with a large former-warehouse space that is their home for performances, education, and community engagement. This plan may be downloaded here.
  7. The Starlight Theatre’s Emergency Preparedness Safety and Security Plan covers a city-owned theatre seats which holds both outdoor performances and indoor shows. This plan may be downloaded here.
  8. This Emergency and Safety Procedures Plan is from a nonprofit professional theater with a historic building. In addition to producing shows, the theater rents space to other arts organizations. This plan may be downloaded here.
  9. The Ford Theatre’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan covers an outdoor venue. This plan may be downloaded here.
  10. The Gorton Community Center’s Emergency Preparedness Manual covers their theater as well as the eleven non-profit organizations that are housed by the Center. This plan may be downloaded here.
  11. The Safety and Security Checklist is a list of questions to be presented to hotels that are hosting events that are produced by performing arts organizations. This plan may be downloaded here.
  12. The Carson Center’s Emergency Readiness Plan covers a performing arts center. This plan may be downloaded here.

The PAR project offers webinars that describe the emergency planning process. These webinars may be found here.

Please contact the PAR project at [email protected] with any questions or comments about these plans.