CERF+: The Artists’ Safety Net BIENNIAL REPORT October 1, 2012– September 30, 2014 READINESS ✚ RELIEF & RECOVERY ✚ RESEARCH, ADVOCACY & LEADERSHIP ABOVE (clockwise from top) Joe Frank McKee, Jessie Hemmons (photo by Dustin Campbell), Deb Karash (photo by Christopher Shane), Skye Gilkerson (photo by Eric Mortensen) COVER (left to right) Top Row: Robert Silent-Thunder (Gros Ventre Tribe), Northern Plains regalia (artist pictured); Elisabeth Nickles, mixed media sculpture on Monayank Canal; Mary Ellen Buxton & Kevin Kutch, “Crystals Reclining,” Pier Glass; Leah DeCapio, flooded home (pictured) (photo by Scott DeCapio); Middle Row: Christa Assad, “Anagama Iron Teapot,” ceramics; potter Angel Brame; Bottom Row: jeweler Nicole Ringgold (photo by Derek Van Marter); Christa Assad, “Lemon Grenade Teapot,” ceramics; David Heinz, woodworking studio fire (photo by Heidi Luquer); Mark Ragonese, woodworking & sculpture Dear Friends, When a major disaster causes the level of devastation and disruption to individual careers and creative communities as happened after Hurricane Sandy, we are once again reminded of artists’ vulnerabilities and the fragile ecology of the arts sector. While these kinds of catastrophic events underscore the importance of CERF+’s emergency relief and recovery assistance, they also provide vital learning experiences and dramatically reinforce the necessity for even greater focus on proactive efforts to help artists become disaster ready and resilient. CERF+ is the artists’ safety net. Through programs and services that provide readiness, relief, recovery, and research, we work to safeguard and sustain creative careers. We are very pleased to present you, who make our work possible, with this biennial report covering Fiscal Years 2013-2014 that gives you a ‘rearview mirror’ perspective of our specialized work as a national artist responder and artist advocate. Julie Gordon Dalgleish Just as we have ramped up our promotional campaign directed at artists about the importance of building resilient careers, we have taken steps to make sure that CERF+ has the resources to withstand the unexpected and to secure our programs for artists for the long term. The generosity of 316 donors to date has moved us closer to our goal of raising $1.75 million for the Campaign for CERF+’s Future, an ambitious fundraising initiative to expand our programs and to ensure our sustainability as we move into the third decade of service. Cornelia Carey Whether you have had a long affiliation with CERF+ or are just joining our ranks, we hope this report gives you greater understanding and appreciation of our multi-faceted work—and why your support means so much. We thank you for helping us fill the gaps in the safety net for artists. Sincerely yours, Chair Executive Director 1 READINESS Every dollar spent on preparedness can save four dollars in recovery. That statistic, frequently cited by emergency relief agencies, gives ground truth to CERF+’s efforts to build a stronger safety net. CERF+’s approach to raising awareness and taking preventive action is rooted in four basic concepts: ✚ Being emergency ready is just as much a part of the business of being an artist as developing a style, exhibiting art works, and managing a studio; ✚ “Disasters don’t always have names”—an electrical fire, a burst pipe, or a broken arm can be as damaging to an artist’s career or workspace as a wildfire, a flood, or a hurricane; ✚ Readiness is a mindset and a process—most preparedness steps involve little time and very little money; ✚ Peer-to-peer advocacy and/or endorsement from respected teachers, arts professionals, and organizations are the most effective techniques of artist engagement. 2013 Career Protection workshop faculty and participants outside the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville. Artist Readiness | Train the Trainer During this period CERF+ put new emphasis on getting its readiness message to younger artists who are just beginning their careers. To expand outreach efforts, CERF+ staff worked with a pilot group of art schools during the academic 2012-13 year to field test “Cover Your A’s,” a set of teaching modules on the basics of artist career protection for incorporation in professional practice courses and workshops. Participating faculty and administrators from Maryland Institute College of Art, Memphis College of Art, College of Visual Arts (St. Paul, MN) and Haywood Community College (Hendersonville, NC) provided enthusiastic evaluations about the training program, the curriculum guide, and teaching resources, encouraging CERF+ to further expand this invitational program. With nine more art schools participating (including Kansas City Art Institute, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Otis College of Art) during the 2013-14 academic year, over 300 undergraduate and graduate art students received instruction in emergency readiness training to safeguard their career, their art, and their workspace. I can say with confidence that this class has better prepared my students to enter into the professional art arena. Thank you for all of the support At the 2014 annual you have provided in the form of your website, training sessions, digital conference of the National Council presentations, links, etc. You’ve made the implementation of this content on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), CERF+ presented “Walking the Tightrope” to much, much easier. — Kim Winkle, faculty, Appalachian help artists protect their careers by address- ing the challenges posed by emergencies. Center for Craft/Tennessee Tech 2 The use of resources developed by CERF+, together with teaching materials contributed by program participants, enabled CERF+ to enrich the original curriculum package. Examples include: ✚ A “Studio Safety/Hazards Checklist” created by Brian Wurst, Haywood Community College, to use as a reference guide for selecting and setting up an artist’s first studio. ✚ Video interviews, recorded by CERF+ Director of Programs Craig Nutt, with three painting students who lost all of their completed Bachelors of Fine Arts thesis work in a devastating electrical fire at Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY) in February 2013. The students discuss the impact of the loss, the challenge of recovery, and the lessons they learned about safeguarding their art. ✚ CERF+ staff worked with animator Olivia Huynh, a 2013 graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, to produce Adventures Big and Small. The short animation, directed at students and emerging artists, promotes awareness about the necessity of In Olivia Huynh’s animated short, readiness and CERF+’s Studio Protector resources. Adventures Big and Small, an artist encounters studio emergencies from a small spill to a flood. Business Insurance During FY13-14 CERF+ made strides to increase the number of artists with business insurance coverage and made more artist-relevant business insurance information available on its website. ✚ More than 3,000 CERF+ Business Insurance Guidebooks for Artists were distributed at conferences, workshops, and through Web downloads and mailings. ✚ 21 artists whom CERF+ assisted with emergency relief also received financial assistance to purchase business insurance for two years. ✚ CERF+ staff also counseled 78 artists on business insurance during that time. Electronic and Media Outreach CERF+ continued to enhance its information resources and self-help tools and increased the use of technology and social media to broadcast its readiness message to artists all over the country. ✚ CERF+ added more than a dozen new video interviews to its online media collection on the Studio Protector website. These include interviews with artists who have weathered a variety of disasters and arts professionals who have managed relief efforts. CERF+ now has Recent additions to CERF+’s media resources include video interviews with students at the Pratt Institute 40 media shorts actively used in its who lost their portfolios to a fire, among others. “train the trainer” program. ✚ The Studio Protector “Tip of the Month,” written by CERF+ staff or guest artists, covered diverse topics, from using a ladder safely to preparing for a wildfire to avoiding “hard-drive heartbreak.” This feature consistently garnered the most visitors from CERF+’s monthly e-news, and was frequently reposted on organizations’ and artists’ social media sites and blogs. 3 Emergency Relief Programs RELIEF and Services Assisting Artists Working in Craft Disciplines with Short and Long Term Recovery Natural disasters continue to increase as the most common type of emergency that CERF+ responds to and that trend continued during 2013 and 2014. Of the artists funded, 44% suffered large-scale natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires. The biggest disasters during this period were Hurricane Sandy (2012), floods in Colorado (2013), and wildfires in Washington State (2014). CERF+ continued to expand its disaster relief services for artists from pre-disaster outreach to increased financial assistance. The relief grant for an individual grew from a maximum of $3,000 in FY13 to $4,000 in FY14. CERF+’s emergency recovery loans were available at no-interest for a maximum loan of $8,000 during FY 13-14, with an increase to $8,500 in FY 2015. In FY 2013-14, CERF+ provided emergency relief assistance totaling $354,969, which was a 26% increase in assistance over the previous two-year period. Craig Nutt and Cornelia Carey lead a discussion at a workshop on recovery in The assistance to a total of 112 artists included: