Resiliency Tips
We’ve heard the term “resiliency” quite a bit in the last few years. The word definitely feels overused, but nonetheless important, especially when talking about emergency and disaster planning for cultural organizations.
The impact of a pandemic has forced most organizations to look at what resiliency means to them, in terms of finances and continuity. It can also be difficult to think in terms of worst case scenarios when so many of us feel like we just lived through a worst case scenario.
This month, we’ve been encouraging our followers and cultural heritage organizations to do just ONE THING to prepare and plan for a disaster. You can tell us your one thing and be entered into a drawing for a Lowe’s gift card to help restock disaster kits at your organization.
Here are a few ways that you can work towards a more resilient cultural organization:
Do a risk assessment: Adapt this risk assessment document from the National Park Service to meet your needs. An annual risk assessment helps to locate issues and start a planning process to resolve them.
Make a friend: Find out who your city/county emergency manager is and invite them to tour your facility. Our last blog post gives helpful hints for building these relationships.
Go coastal: If you are located near the coast or water, educate yourself about rising water levels and what you can do to protect your site.
Make it a priority: Do you have a priority list for the top 10 collections, archival, and institutional records you would want to salvage or save? If not, work with your team to make these lists so when disaster strikes, you’ll know what matters most.
Take your time: Disaster and emergency planning take time and resources. Commit to taking a small step each month, dedicated to these areas, and the payoff will be there.
MuseumTastic is here to help! Our founder has over a decade of experience in working with disaster and emergency planning and access to training resources for you and your staff. When your ready to plan, we’re ready to help!