Leadership, Preparedness, and Community: Key Updates from NCAPER

Big News for Arts Preparedness: PAR Joins NCAPER

We’re heading into a new year, approaching NCAPER’s 20th anniversary, and we get to share some genuinely exciting news: Beginning January 1, the nationally respected Performing Arts Readiness

(PAR) project officially became a flagship program of NCAPER, and that’s a big deal

for the arts preparedness community.

Since 2017, with support from the Mellon Foundation and in partnership with arts and cultural leaders across the country, PAR has helped performing arts organizations strengthen their emergency preparedness and disaster resilience. Through hands-on training, planning grants, regional arts emergency networks, Circuit Rider mentors, and essential readiness tools, PAR has quietly (and sometimes not so quietly!) made the arts sector stronger, safer, and more prepared.

With Mellon Foundation funding concluding at the end of 2025, NCAPER’s Steering Committee spent the last 18 months focused on one simple but important question:

How do we make sure this work continues?

This merger is the answer.

Starting January 1, PAR’s incredible collection of resources and recorded webinars will live on through NCAPER, and PAR’s community will officially join the NCAPER network. At the same time, we’re expanding this work, adapting training for individual artists and artist-run organizations, and developing new resources for professionals in visual arts, media and electronic arts, and literature.

And the best part? PAR’s leadership, including Jan Newcomb and Tom Clareson, aren’t

going anywhere. They’ll continue to be deeply involved as this work grows and evolves.

PAR as a standalone project may be coming to a close, but its mission is very much alive and now it’s stronger than ever. To those of you from the PAR circle, welcome to NCAPER! Together, we’re building a more resilient, prepared future for the arts.

Mary Anne Carter Confirmed as National Endowment for the Arts Chair

In more good news, the United States Senate voted to confirm Mary Anne Carter as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Carter will lead the agency for a second time, expanding on her leadership with the NEA during President

Trump’s first term. NCAPER is particularly grateful for the role the Endowment, a Charter Member Organization of NCAPER, plays in connecting with other federal agencies, and programmatically supporting readiness, response, and recovery.

“The National Endowment for the Arts has a long history of helping organizations to plan and prepare for disasters, as well as providing access to resources for response and recovery efforts. Importantly, the Arts Endowment also recognizes the emotional impact on affected areas and how arts and culture can support the well-being of communities post-disaster,” said Carter.

In her earlier tenure, she worked to make the NEA more accessible to the American people, directing an expansion of Creative Forces (a creative arts therapy program for U.S. service members and veterans recovering from post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, and other psychological health conditions) and bolstering many of its national initiatives, including Shakespeare in American Communities, NEA Big Read, and Poetry Out Loud.

Safeguard What Matters Most

Do you know what it would take to keep your work moving when the unexpected happens? A free, five-part practical webinar series has just been launched by South Arts in partnership with NCAPER, to help artists and arts organizations prepare for disruptions before they become crises. NCAPER has assembled a roster of guest faculty from across the country to offer practical, experience-based tools for early risk awareness, continuity planning, and long-term sustainability. Preparedness is one way we safeguard what matters most.

Attend live to:

• Ask questions in real time• Learn from trusted national and regional leaders

• Leave with tools you can put to work immediately

Five live 90-minute webinars 

Thursdays at 4 PM ET | Jan 22, Feb 26, Mar 26, Apr 23, May 28 Register now to join live (Recordings will be available on SouthArts.org Resources page).

Small steps now can shape what’s possible later.

Building Preparedness Through Community

Building your resilience works best when you work with neighbors and colleagues. Two upcoming gatherings offer just that:

AFTACON 2026 Albuquerque, NM is the setting for Americans for the Arts’ AFTACON2026: Shaping the Future. Organizing for Impact. Readiness/response/resilience is a critical skillset for the arts advocates, artists and arts administrators of today and the future, and will be among the conference pathways. June 2 – 5, 2026. Registration opens Feb. 2.

Readiness Reimagined: the Arts Disaster & Crisis Preparedness Conference happens September 24 & 25, 2026 in Lexington, KY. This national gathering focuses on building readiness, sharing innovative research and practices, and strengthening the arts sector’s ability to respond to crises. Registration and call for session proposals coming soon!

With Gratitude

NCAPER gratefully recognizes two long-time Steering Committee members as they conclude their service.

Stephanie Atkins has represented the National Performance Network on the SC since

2018. She has served in leadership roles including on the Programming Working Group,

Search Committee, and as Co-Chair of the Merger Committee. Stephanie has provided

wisdom, pragmatism, and a clear voice for the needs and interests of individual artists.

Thank you, Stephanie!

Tom Clareson, Project Director of Performing Arts Readiness, has also contributed to

the SC since 2018 including service on the Merger Committee. Tom’s collegiality and collaboration between PAR and NCAPER has made both entities stronger and more responsive. By creating opportunities for the arts community and the cultural heritage

community to learn from each other and find new partnerships, his work has benefited those working in both areas of our sector in exciting new ways.

We appreciate you, Tom!

Happily, both Stephanie and Tom will remain involved in NCAPER’s programs and we

appreciate their collegiality!