Houston, TX, March 5, 2019 - Nearing the two year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) has launched a new Disaster Resilience website for local artists and nonprofits. The website features a comprehensive, self-guided curriculum about everything an artist or arts nonprofit needs to know before the next disaster hits.

“One of our greatest takeaways from Hurricane Harvey was that many artists and arts organizations lacked the resources to prepare for, let alone recover from, a catastrophic event,” said Leigh Smith, Board Chair of Houston Arts Alliance. “The Disaster Resilience website will help artists and nonprofits protect themselves from future damage, rely less on public recovery assistance, and keep the $1.1 billion arts economy of Houston running, producing, and inspiring despite future disasters.”

The Disaster Resilience website is the first of its kind in the nation. It takes complex information and makes it clear and digestible with short videos and easy-to-consume text-tips that cover what to do before, during, and after a disaster. The nine topics include risk assessment, preparation for any and all hazards, calculating loss after a disaster, documenting inventory before a disaster, navigating insurance, cybersecurity, FEMA and local assistance, business continuity, and preservation.

“The topics come from two sources: national experts who helped us create the site and the identified needs of artists and arts nonprofits who sustained damage after Hurricane Harvey,” said John Abodeely, CEO of HAA. “It’s built to be comprehensive, quick to consume, and easy to find the information you want.”

Multiple organizations assisted in creating content for and funding the Disaster Resilience website, including Performing Arts Readiness, the Rebuild Texas Fund, Southwest Airlines, CERF+, The Anchorage Foundation, and Texas Commission on the Arts. Individual contributors include Jack and Anne Moriniere, Ed Wulfe, Avisheh Mohsenin, and Leigh and Reggie Smith.

The Disaster Resilience website can be found at ready.haatx.com. To schedule interviews, please contact Ashley Small at Ashley@medley-inc.com or at (281)-827-3419.

HOUSTON ARTS ALLIANCE (HAA)

Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a local arts and culture organization whose principle work is to implement the City of Houston’s vision, values, and goals for its arts grantmaking and civic art investments. HAA’s work is conducted through contracts with the City of Houston, overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. HAA also executes privately funded special projects to meet the needs of the arts community, such as disaster preparation, research on the state of the arts in Houston, and temporary public art projects that energize neighborhoods. In short, HAA helps artists and arts nonprofits be bold, productive, and strong.