NEWS
Be A Part Of Building Artist Resilience In The Bay Area
Your Experience Matters, Your Voice is Essential!
BAARN Classes and Resources
When a crisis hits, what do you need to be able to do? Act quickly. Evacuate safely. Keep yourself and your people safe. Protect your artwork. Get connected to trusted expertise. Keep your practice and operations going. Manage your emotional and mental health. Get help. Help others.
You don’t need to figure this out alone. BAARN, the Bay Area Arts Readiness Network, has launched to provide free resources, training and information to help artists and artist-run organizations become more prepared and resilient. Designed specifically for the risks artists face, BAARN offerings are built to fit into busy schedules, and address challenges ranging from natural disasters and data crashes to event cancellations, water leaks, building damage, and threats to artwork, instruments and digital assets. Whether you work solo or with a team, in a physical venue or from home, preparedness helps protect what you’ve worked so hard to create. BAARN is supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Why now?
Don’t wait until that crisis happens. In an increasingly uncertain world, taking simple steps now can make a big difference when a disruption occurs or a sudden emergency hits.
How?
BAARN Classes - one or two offerings each month, free and on-demand, plus hands-on training. The Basics track gives you a foundation in readiness, protection strategies and insurance, business continuity, and crisis communications. The Enhanced track provides specialty curriculum including festival safety, safety and security while on tour, active shooter and hostile activity preparedness. Register now for the first two sessions:
Artist Readiness 101 Tuesday, June 16, 1:00-2:15PM Pacific - online. Basics Track. What is a readiness plan and what does it do for you? Understand the elements of a plan, identify the pieces you likely already have in place, and find connections to your everyday work/practice.
Risk Assessment Tuesday, June 23, 1:00-2:30PM Pacific - online. Basics Track. Learn how to identify potential risks, evaluate vulnerabilities, and take proactive steps to reduce hazards before they happen.
Resources - guides, templates and worksheets to use at your own pace, in your own space, and customizable for your discipline, scope and budget size. Launching summer 2026.
Networks - training and funding to strengthen or create local arts response networks. Launching fall 2026.
Get Ready grants - funding to protect your individual practice or operations. Launching early 2027.
Why trust BAARN?
Our team has a combined 65+ years working in arts emergency management and disaster response. Our expert faculty members come from the Bay Area and across the country. Our Local Coordinator is a California-based artist/activist and our Advisory Committee is made up of Bay Area artists, arts administrators and funders. Most importantly, we’ve interviewed and surveyed your arts colleagues in the region to develop the classes and other program elements. BAARN is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and is a project of NCAPER, the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response.
Whether you are an individual artist, performing ensemble or artist-run organization, BAARN offers practical tools, resources and guidance to support your work and protect what you’ve built.
Sign up here to get news on BAARN classes, networks and grants.
Let’s strengthen our networks and build lasting resilience — together.
Local Coordinator Anna Lisa Escobedo Joins Bay Area Arts Readiness Network (BAARN) Project READ MORE!
November 18 - NCAPER, the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response, has announced the launch of the “Bay Area Arts Readiness Network (BAARN)” program, supported by an $845,000 grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Spanning from early 2025 through 2027, this initiative will provide training and resources to enhance artists’ resilience and emergency preparedness while fostering the growth of artist-run networks across ten Bay Area counties.
“Maintaining business functions in the face of interruptions, and mitigating risks to their artworks and operations, are skillsets which many artists need but have not yet acquired,” said NCAPER Executive Director Janet Newcomb. The key to maintaining business continuity is the creation of readiness plans, and developing the infrastructure to activate those plans in an emergency. Bay Area residents are familiar with the risks posed by earthquakes and fire, as well as the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic – and are increasingly facing overlapping crises. This program will take a holistic approach to help artists withstand various threats: not just these expected types of events, but also communications disruptions, financial upheavals, loss of space, and even incidents of violence or civil unrest. Strategies to plan for “slow” disasters such as climate change and gentrification are also increasingly important.
BAARN combines the experience and resources of the nation’s two leading organizations promoting readiness, response and recovery in the arts sector. Since 2006, NCAPER has promoted policies which embed the arts in community readiness and crisis response, delivered educational programs which build bridges between the arts and emergency management sectors, and created publications and techniques to speed the recovery of those in the arts and creative sectors. One of NCAPER’s core functions is organizing Response Facilitation Calls following a widespread disaster, allowing those impacted to connect with one another, and with a ‘brain trust’ of those who have disaster experience and expertise to share. For this project, NCAPER will team up with the Performing Arts Readiness project (PAR). Since 2017, PAR has been adapting and applying the emergency management expertise of the cultural heritage community to the country’s performing arts sector. PAR grants have supported the creation of “Circuit Rider” mentoring programs in rural and urban communities, and individual readiness plans for dozens of performing arts organizations. An expanding roster of professional development offerings ranges from fire safety and cybersecurity to festival security, archiving legacy materials, and community recovery through arts and culture. Particularly relevant to the BAARN project is PAR’s work in developing and funding readiness and response networks in rural and urban communities, and NCAPER’s relationships and experience with the arts funding community. The BAARN project is the most recent, and most ambitious, of their collaborative efforts to pilot and model new practices to strengthen the arts sector.
The BAARN program aligns with the Hewlett Foundation’s goal to “ensure Bay Area artists and culture bearers shape and benefit from the services, policies, and practices that most impact their creative agency and economic well-being.” Adam Fong, Program Officer at the Hewlett Foundation, noted, “Preparedness is a critical component of economic well-being for artists. Bay Area artists are more likely than most to work multiple part-time jobs, and to be self-employed. That means they have very little backup in any crisis, whether from natural disaster or otherwise. Funding and professional development through the BAARN project can help protect and empower local artists and the invaluable cultural practices they sustain.
BAARN Project Director Tom Clareson emphasized the importance of networks in crisis management. “Research shows that social cohesion and connections to both personal and professional networks are key factors in post-disaster recovery,” said Clareson. “This project will support existing artist-focused networks while also developing new ones. Through preparedness training, network development, and funding, BAARN will strengthen the capacity of these networks to support members before, during, and after crises.” Clareson also shared that the project will develop curricula, case studies, and replicable models that can be adapted for use in other communities across the country.
About NCAPER
The National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response (NCAPER) is a voluntary task force composed of national, regional, state, and local arts organizations, public agencies, and foundations. Founded in 2006 in response to the devastation caused to artists and creative economies by 21st-century disasters, NCAPER promotes readiness and effective emergency response within the arts sector. By fostering relationships between the arts and emergency management fields, NCAPER advances the arts as a vital component of community health and recovery.
About the Performing Arts Readiness Project
Performing Arts organizations are uniquely vulnerable to a wide range of emergencies, leading to potential loss of income and assets. The Performing Arts Readiness (PAR) project empowers these essential community hubs by offering educational and informational resources. Through the PAR project, performing arts organizations across the nation learn how to protect their assets, sustain operations, and be better prepared for emergencies.
About the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation invests in creative thinkers and problem solvers who are working to ensure everyone has an opportunity to thrive. The Performing Arts Program makes grants to support meaningful artistic experiences for communities throughout the Bay Area. Its aim is to ensure Bay Area communities honor and support their own and each other’s artistic and cultural vibrancy, and the power of the arts and artists to advance individual self-expression and collective self-determination.