UK report discusses impact of natural disasters on the arts
Republished from WEKU.
A report from the University of Kentucky discusses the impact of natural disasters on the arts, and suggestions for how policymakers can support them.
The report includes stories from more than 80 artists and their experiences dealing with natural disasters.
Artists affected by either the eastern Kentucky floods of 2022 or western Kentucky tornadoes the year prior had a median financial burden of $10,000. For organizations, that median financial burden triples to $30,000 — and can range from $250 to $5.5 million.
Leah Hamilton is the report’s author and an assistant professor at UK’s Department of Arts Administration. She says that’s why it’s important to make connections.
“I think we can in the arts sector try to build relationships and build a stronger bridge,” Hamilton said. “And I think the same goes in the emergency management community. How can they understand the work that we do in the arts?”
Hamilton says in the meantime, it’s important for funders to provide a “continuum of care” after disaster strikes artists.
“There was this three to six month period of time when they questioned the value of the work that they did, if they ever wanted to do it again,” Hamilton said. “And I think for funders, there is an opportunity to support artists during that time to keep them in, to support them until they’re ready to create again.”
More with Hamilton can be heard on this week’s edition of Eastern Standard.
The report can be read online here.
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Originally published by WEKU.
Republished with permission.
