In our volatile and unpredictable environment, it’s critical that arts leaders have experience and skills in resilience and business continuity.

 

For the sixth year, NCAPER offers programming to undergraduate and graduate students in arts administration programs across the country. 
AAAE colleagues and other leaders of arts administration programs are encouraged to schedule a lecture for the 2026 fall semester! We know that you are busy planning your program curricula, and we are here to offer our services and teaching assistance in ways that work uniquely for your program.

 

If you would like help in updating your offerings on preparedness planning, continuity of business operations, crisis management and other areas of emergency response that all arts and cultural leaders will be needing, we are here to assist you. Tom Clareson and Jan Newcomb continue as faculty for this program, which currently existed as a partnership between NCAPER and PAR/Performing Arts Readiness, and we’re excited to announce the addition of Carol Foster.

WHAT:
Virtual lectures and workshops in webinar format (1.5 hour lecture with Q&A)

WHEN:         
We are able to adapt to your academic schedule and course offering needs.  We are currently scheduling with programs for Fall 2026.

FEE:  

$325 inclusive*

WHO:

 

 

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Tom Clareson 

Tom Clareson is Project Director of the Performing Arts Readiness (PAR) project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to help performing arts organizations nationwide learn how to protect their assets, sustain operations, and be prepared for emergencies. He serves as Senior Consultant for Digital & Preservation Services at Lyrasis, consulting and teaching nationally and internationally on preservation, disaster preparedness, digitization, digital preservation, special collections/archives, remote storage, funding, strategic planning, and advocacy for libraries, archives, and museums. Clareson serves as Vice President on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation.

 

 

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Jan Newcomb
Janet “Jan” Newcomb is an arts management consultant and educator whose 50-year career spans leadership, program development, and organizational transformation in the cultural and performing arts sectors. Most recently serving as Performing Arts Coordinator for the national Performing Arts Readiness Project and Executive Director of the National Coalition for Arts Preparedness & Emergency Response, she has been a leading voice in advancing arts sector resilience, readiness, and crisis management.

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Previously, Ms. Newcomb led major arts organizations including the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and The ARTS of the Southern Finger Lakes, where she guided transformative initiatives recognized by the NEA, Appalachian Regional Commission, and Arts & Business Council of New York as models for cultural collaboration. Her earlier work with the South Carolina Arts Commission and as founding director of the Arts Council of Beaufort County established pioneering arts education and professional development programs still cited nationally.

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As a consultant and academic, Ms. Newcomb has advised arts organizations across the U.S. and abroad, contributed to graduate curriculum design at institutions such as the New York Institute of Technology and the University of Kentucky—where she currently serves as a Volunteer Professor in the Arts Administration Program—and presented widely on arts management, leadership, and preparedness.

A recipient of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Community Achievement Award and the Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes Lifetime Service Award, Ms. Newcomb holds an M.A. in Modern Dance from The George Washington University School of Education and a B.A. in Music from Hood College.

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Carol Foster 

​Carol Foster is a nationally recognized arts administrator, consultant, and advocate with over five decades of leadership in the performing arts. She is one of several U.S.-based consultants with the Performing Arts Readiness (PAR) initiative, where she specializes in emergency preparedness for arts and cultural organizations. Her work supports artists and institutions in building resilience through comprehensive planning for crises that include natural disasters, public health disruptions, financial instability, and operational interruptions.

 

As a PAR consultant, Foster developed customized emergency preparedness plans, conducted risk assessments, and led training that empower organizations to safeguard their people, programs, and assets. She is the creator of a useful 150-page Emergency Preparedness Template, designed specifically for dance and performing arts entities, offering practical tools for readiness, response, and recovery.

 

Through her consulting practice, 5678Help!, Foster extends this work by providing strategic guidance, technical assistance, and capacity-building support to small and mid-sized arts organizations, with a particular focus on historically under-resourced communities.

 

Grounded in a deep commitment to sustainability and equity, Foster’s emergency preparedness work reframes resilience as an essential part of artistic practice, ensuring that artists and organizations are prepared not only to survive disruptions—but to continue thriving. 

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HOW:

Please contact us to discuss how we may work together in helping your students gain a greater understanding of how to build resilience in the arts sector! To learn more, or schedule your NCAPER program, contact Jan Newcomb at jnewcomb@ncaper.org.

BACKGROUND:
About the Performing Arts Readiness project:

From 2017 to 2025, the Performing Arts Readiness (PAR) project https://performingartsreadiness.org, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, actively engaged in building knowledge and capacity around preparedness for the performing arts sector by providing information resources (models, best practices, templates, etc.), educational programs, online planning tools, and grants to enable organizations to create emergency or continuity of operations plans and train staff and volunteers in their use.  PAR also focused on arts management and administration graduate degree programs at US colleges and universities to introduce the next generation of arts leaders to the importance of emergency planning; and promote the inclusion of arts’ preparedness and emergency planning in degree-granting and certificate curricula. PAR sunsetted at the end of 2025 but its programs and assets have transferred to NCAPER.
*Mellon Foundation funding is no longer available to subsidize these lectures but we are offering the same service at this affordable rate for fall 2026.

Previous partner programs include:
Butler University – Jordan College of the Arts
College of Charleston
Elon University
George Mason University – Arts Management
Humber Polytechnic
Indiana University
Miami of Ohio
National Guild for Community Arts Education
Ohio University – Arts Administration Graduate Cohort
Pace University - Arts & Entertainment Mgmt. Graduate Program 
University of Alabama – Department of Theatre and Dance
University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point
Virginia Tech