Emergency Preparedness Webinars: Jan. - Mar. 2024

The Performing Arts Readiness (PAR) project is offering the free emergency preparedness webinars listed below that are tailored to the needs of performing arts organizations during Sept.-Dec. The better prepared an organization is, the more quickly and effectively it can respond to emergencies and crises, re-open for performances and programs, and return to normal operations. Also, the dPlan|ArtsReady online emergency preparedness and response tool for the arts and cultural heritage sectors guides users through risk assessments and preparedness actions and produces elements for your disaster plan. The dPlan|ArtsReady online tool can be found at: https://www.dplan.org/.

The complete list of PAR webinars and recordings may be found here

Webinars:

Disaster Response for Performing Arts Organizations, April 18, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: Emergency response can be a daunting prospect for performing arts organizations. This webinar will lay out the basic tenets of responding to an emergency including support organizations, working with vendors, and helpful resources for organization and planning. There will also be a brief introduction to the Incident Command System so that performing arts centers can work more seamlessly with their local first responders.
Instructor: Donia Conn

Introduction to Emergency Preparedness for Performing Arts Organizations, April 23, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: Localized emergencies, regional disasters, and catastrophic events can have a devastating impact on performing arts organizations where even a brief loss of business can threaten sustainability. This free 90 minute webinar will provide an introduction to why emergency preparedness is critical to protect your organization from external risks and internal vulnerabilities. These include human caused and natural crises. You will learn the typical process and contents of a plan, and receive information about resources to help with planning.
This webinar is appropriate for attendees representing large and small performing arts organizations as well as those with and without their own performance facilities. Executive and management staff will find this webinar useful, as well as H.R., finance, communications, marketing, technical, and front-of-house staff.
Instructor: Steve Eberhardt

Crisis Communication and Reputation Management for Performing Arts Organizations, April 30, 2024 at 2:00 ET
As professionals rise through the ranks, they will face issues that thrust them into the spotlight and threaten organizational reputation. A recent study found that 9 in 10 business leaders (94%) admit that the executives in their organizations need more training in core communication disciplines, such as reputation management and strategic communication. Are you prepared? This class reviews elements of strategic communication that are essential before, during and after crisis events. It examines how your organization can best prepare to respond to crisis and restore organizational reputation.
Instructor:  Kathleen Donohue Rennie

Event Preparedness: Active Shooters and Hostile Activity at Your Venues, May 1, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: In recent years we have seen an increase in hostile attacks across all sectors, including events. These attacks have come in a variety of methods. Performing Arts and Cultural Heritage organizations must be prepared for all scenarios and need to be able to react to all emergencies. This webinar will cover the types of attacks to prepare for, as well as the training you should consider for your venues and staff. Our instructor, Emma Stuart, also presents the “Safety and Security for Performing Arts,” “Road to Recovery: Performing Arts During COVID,” and the “Pandemic Response for Performing Arts Organizations” webinars for the PAR project.
Instructor: Emma Stuart

Risk Assessment for Performing Arts Organizations, May 7, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: Natural disasters, local emergencies, and other disruptive events can have devastating effects on all sizes of performing arts organizations. This webinar will focus on mitigating risks at institutions, to prevent disasters from happening and to reduce the impact of unavoidable disasters. The session will clarify the need for risk assessment as a part of an organization’s disaster preparedness strategy, provide basic information on risk assessment tools and practices, and address how risk assessment can benefit performing arts organizations. The instructors will also present case studies as a part of the session, so participants can learn from actual disasters in performing arts organizations.
Instructor: Tom Clareson

Networking for Disaster Management in the Performing Arts, May 14, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: Emergency response and preparedness for performing arts organizations can be a difficult task for individual organizations. This free 2 hour webinar will demonstrate how working with multiple organizations in a network for disaster management can be accomplished. The history of networking for improved emergency preparedness in the cultural heritage, arts, and government sectors will be examined, with an exploration of existing networks. Case studies of the Pennsylvania Cultural Resilience Network and CultureAID in New York City will be presented to help guide you on how to start your own, or join an existing, cooperative disaster network. You will learn how to use the Cultural Placekeeping Guide to direct your networking efforts.
Instructors: Tom Clareson and Amy Schwartzman

Fire Safety and Preparedness for Performing Arts Organizations, May 15, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: Fire Safety is an essential element in the day to day preparedness of any organization, especially in the unique environment of the performing arts. In addition to sound emergency management principles, the application of National Fire Protection Association Standards (NFPA) will ensure that a comprehensive protection plan is developed in cooperation with appropriate emergency response partners. This free webinar will provide fire safety considerations and introduce best practices from the fire protection industry, which offers a road map to achieve fire safety benchmarks. Participants will learn how the Life Safety Code and the Code for Protection of Cultural Resource Properties can help you protect your patrons, staff, and facility.
Instructor: Chris Soliz

Fire and Emergency Protection Plan Development, May 21, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: Participants in this webinar will be presented with the components of a Protection Plan and the process to follow for the development of a plan following guidelines provided by the National Fire Protection Association’s Code for Protection of Cultural Resource Properties. Grounded in a vulnerability assessment, the planning process covers fire safety, security, construction considerations, prevention, special events, and recovery strategies. At the completion of this webinar, participants will have the tools needed to begin developing is a significant step towards a resilient organization.
Instructor: Chris Soliz

Safety and Security for Performing Arts, May 29, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: With the ever-changing nature of events, are you prepared for the unexpected? With audiences and Local Government agencies expecting more from you as an organizer, do you have plans in place to not only try and prevent, but also respond should any incident happen? Safety and Security are more important now than ever and more questions will be asked of you and what plans you have in place. This class will help event organizers and venues establish the key elements for prevention and responding to incidents of any shape or size. It will provide a background of what happens when things don’t go as planned, and show that it doesn’t matter what size or type of event you have, the basic principles are the same. We will look at what you would do in certain scenarios, and how even small adjustments to your venue can keep your event safer.
Instructor: Emma Stuart

Introduction to Archival Programs for Performing Arts Institutions, May 30, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: With many performing arts organizations operating for some time, legacy records have been created that can benefit not only staff but also the public. Join us for an introduction to what archival programs do and how they can help your organization. This class will be organized into two parts. First, participants will learn what practical actions they can take now with minimal resources and then learn about program components for consideration in the future. By the end of the class, participants will be able to:
- Learn what archives do and what archival work entails
- Understand what materials are considered historical
- Acquire skills in basic preservation and safe storage practices, including electronic materials
- Become aware of what is needed to develop archival programs over time
Instructor: Katy Klettlinger

Lessons Learned from the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival Shooting, June 12, 2024 at 2:00 ET
Description: Kelly Hubbard was attending day 3 of the Route 91 Country Music Festival with her daughter and a few friends when someone opened fire on the crowd of 22,000 attendees. 58 attendees died that evening, with hundreds more severely injured, making that night the worst mass shooting to date in our Country’s history. Kelly speaks as a survivor, but also as an emergency manager on the events of that evening to help others in her profession and in the entertainment and hospitality industry to improve large event planning and mass casualty response.
This session will reflect on lessons for all parties involved in large pop-up location event planning and mass casualty response. Learning outcomes will include: considerations for security and safety in pop-up venues, coordination concepts with local government partners, understanding the response and recovery process, considerations for integration of non-traditional response partners and trauma care for survivors and staff. Concepts such as how to integrate those who may not think they have a role (such as the hotels that became triage and shelter centers with no warning) will be covered. Insight will be provided on how survivors of traumatic events get information regarding hospitals, Family Assistance Centers, and recovery resources, especially when watching the news is experiencing the trauma all over again.
Instructor: Kelly Hubbard