Arts and culture—through the artists and arts and cultural organizations that bring them to communities -- have a vital role to play in recovery from disasters. Whether joining 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 you, as performing arts organizations, can engage in this work. We will provide background in basic disaster management principles, share work other organizations have produced, give guiding principles as well as a brief how-to, 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 is a Program Officer and Accessibility Coordinator with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts where she works with arts groups throughout the state to build their capacity, make the arts more accessible and emergency preparedness for arts organizations. She was previously the Executive Director of Monmouth Arts for nearly two decades where her tenure saw unprecedented growth including the development of the award-winning Monmouth County Arts Plan, now incorporated into the County Master Plan; the MoCo Arts Corridor, a creative placemaking initiative; and ArtHelps, Monmouth Arts’ response to Hurricane Sandy. She has been involved in municipal, county and regional arts, community and economic development planning initiatives. She has led the boards of ArtPride NJ, Red Bank RiverCenter, Red Bank Visitors Center and the Association of New Jersey County Cultural & Historic Agencies. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Americans for the Arts Private Sector Network Council seeking to strengthen the connection between the private sector and local arts agencies. In 2012 she was appointed to the Gateway National Park Fort Hancock 21st Century Advisory Committee. A 2001 alumnus of Leadership Shore and a 2005 graduate of Leadership NJ, she received the Count Basie Theatre’s inaugural Vanguard Award honoring lifelong devotion to the arts in 2014. Ms. Fouratt 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.
Instructor: Amy Schwartzman
Amy Schwartzman has been working at the intersection of arts and disaster management since 2001, when she was hired as the Information Officer of the New York Arts Recovery Fund, created to help NYC’s artists and arts organizations recover from 9/11. Since 2007, she has been a consultant to the National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness and Emergency Response (NCAPER) and a member of its Steering Committee since 2018. Amy has consulted with the Performing Arts Readiness Project on and off since its inception and is the co-designer of its webinar “Networking for Disaster Management in the Performing Arts.” After Superstorm Sandy, Amy was hired by FEMA to be a Community Planner dedicated to the recovery of artists and arts organizations in its NYS Superstorm Sandy Recovery Office. Her most important accomplishment was facilitating the creation of CultureAID, a network of arts service organizations and other stakeholders committed to strengthening New York City’s cultural community before, during, and after disasters. She continues service to CultureAID as an advisor.
