To help arts organizations cope with another potential Hurricane Sandy, New York City on Wednesday announced it was creating a response and recovery network to reduce redundant communications, pool available resources and share best practices about emergency preparedness.
CultureAID (“Culture Active in Disasters”) will provide information, technical and financial assistance and other resources to the city’s cultural community before, during and after disasters, Tom Finkelpearl, the New York Cultural Affairs commissioner, and Joseph Esposito, the Office of Emergency Management commissioner said in a statement.
The program was developed in direct response to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and to the region’s increasing threat of severe weather and climate change.
“New York’s arts community was hit hard in Hurricane Sandy, suffering alongside neighbors across the city as facilities were flooded and irreplaceable works of art were damaged or lost,” Mr. Finkelpearl said in the statement. “CultureAID will help the artists and cultural groups that are so vital to our city’s vibrancy minimize the impact of future disasters.”