The aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita led the Southern Arts Federation (SAF) to investigate disaster preparation for the performing arts. SAF is a not-for-profit regional arts organization that works in partnership with nine state arts agencies. SAF saw the urgency for continuity planning focused on the particular requirements of performance disciplines and decided to take action.
 
SAF’s goal is to create an online tool to help the performing arts prepare for all types of show-stopping emergencies such as natural disasters, financial crisis, and IT failure. The new software, adapted from the popular UC Ready tool, will be named ArtsReady.
 
SAF with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation hosted meetings in Atlanta and most recently in Berkeley on October 13-14, 2009. Leaders from national dance, theatre, and cultural commissions met with advisors from UC Berkeley’s Office of Continuity Planning and the IS&T Department.
 
ArtsReady information ca be found at http://www.artsready.org/