Arts and culture—through the artists and organizations that bring them to life in communities -- have a vital role to play in recovery from disasters. Whether connecting people through music, dance, theater or other experiences; providing moments of respite, joy and humor; allowing people to tell their personal stories of the disaster through visual, verbal or other means; or even just providing a place to congregate, gather information or grab a cup of coffee, arts and culture and the organizations that produce them enable us to move from victimhood to personhood, even if only for a moment, and help us rebuild the social infrastructure of our individual and community lives.
In this webinar, we will focus on how artists and arts organizations can engage in this work. We will provide background in basic disaster management principles, share good practices, give guiding principles and brief how-tos, leave you with resources for further study, and answer any questions you may have. Rebuilding social infrastructure strengthens communities’ abilities to move forward after disasters. Learn how to be part of the process and gain a seat at the table in your community’s recovery.
Instructor: Mary Eileen Fouratt
Mary Eileen Fouratt was the Program Officer for Community Arts and Access at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for seven years where she worked with the twenty-one county arts agencies and arts organizations to build their capacity and make the arts more accessible. As Council representative to the Performing Arts Readiness Project and the New Jersey Cultural Alliance for Response she worked to make the field more prepared for emergencies. Previously as the Executive Director of Monmouth Arts, for nearly two decades, she led creative placemaking initiatives and participated in local, county and regional arts, community, and economic development planning. She created Monmouth Arts’ ArtHelps response to Hurricane Sandy witnessing the importance of emergency preparedness so arts groups are able to respond to community needs after a disaster. Mary Eileen has a B.A. in History from the College of the Holy Cross and an M.S. in Education, Museum Leadership from Bank Street College. Fouratt has led the boards of ArtPride NJ, Red Bank RiverCenter, Red Bank Visitors Center and the Association of New Jersey Cultural & Historic Agencies.
Instructor: Amy Schwartzman
Amy Schwartzman has been working at the intersection of arts and disaster management since 2001, when she served as the Information Officer of the New York Arts Recovery Fund, created to help NYC’s artists and arts organizations recover from 9/11. While there, she authored two guidebooks developed by The NYC Arts Coalition, one geared toward artists, the other toward nonprofit organizations, about how to negotiate the response and recovery resources that had arisen. In 2007, she was hired by the National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness and Emergency Response (NCAPER) to draft a Blueprint for a nationwide disaster safety net for artists and arts organizations. Her work for NCAPER includes principal authorship of “The Cultural Placekeeping Guide” (2017) and “Essential Guidelines for Arts Responders Organizing in the Aftermath of Disaster” (2011). After Hurricane Sandy, Amy served as the Community Planner for artists and arts organizations within the Natural and Cultural Resource Recovery section of FEMA’s New York Sandy Recovery Office. She is currently a consultant to PAR.
Instructor: Mollie Quinlan-Hayes
Mollie Quinlan-Hayes has worked with arts organizations across the country for over 30 years, as Deputy Director of South Arts, Assistant Director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, a consultant and facilitator, and currently as the Rauschenberg Grants Coordinator for NYFA and as Fund Development and Program Officer with NCAPER, the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response. She developed and administers NYFA’s national Rauschenberg Emergency Grants which support artists to return to their creative practice after a crisis. She directed the national initiative ArtsReady since its inception following the 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and now works to build the practice of readiness and response in the arts field.
