Guide to 

Expanding Mitigation

MAKING THE CONNECTION WITH ARTS & CULTURE 
Can you use the words “art” and “hazard mitigation” in the same sentence? Yes, you 

can! These words are not often connected, but a meaningful and powerful relationship 

does exist between art and hazard mitigation. Emergency managers have a long 

history of working with communities to reduce the risks disasters pose to homes, 

businesses, and critical infrastructure. Protecting our cultural resources and artistic 

expression begins with acknowledging that the arts are a key part of our communities, 

exploring how we can partner with artists to communicate risk, and building a culture 

of preparedness across the Nation. 

Art is all around us – in murals, sculpture, literature, and music. It sparks conversation 

and bonds communities. In the wake of a disaster, the arts can be called upon to 

offer solace, comfort, and connection to help communities heal. They can be 

a symbol of resilience during recovery. Art can resonate deeply with people 

and inspire civic creativity that could otherwise be difficult to initiate. 

This Guide to Expanding Mitigation explores how community 

officials can work with the arts and culture sector to support 

hazard mitigation, including the planning process. This 

guide is a starting place for community officials to initiate 

a conversation with arts and culture partners to make 

investments in mitigation relevant and risk information 

accessible, while building the knowledge and capacity 

of the entire community.

This Guide to Expanding 

Mitigation is part of a series 

highlighting innovative 

and emerging partnerships 

for mitigation.

Photo: Jersey Barriers Project, Belmar, New Jersey / Belmar Arts Council

Photo: The Gilbert F. White Memorial Flood Level Marker on Boulder Creek in Boulder, Colorado
TAKING RISK COMMUNICATION TO THE NEXT LEVEL 

Traditionally, risk communication engagement involves meeting with 

stakeholders to better understand an issue, holding open house events 

to share resources with the public, and conducting online and social 

media engagement to promote the latest information. Messages are often 

based on the best available data, whether it’s the number of homes at 

high risk of flooding or the cost of rebuilding a damaged home. These 

traditional engagement strategies may not connect with some people 

in a meaningful way.

It is critical to communicate risk in a way 

that is accessible and meaningful to all 

people by building in context that aligns 

with their experiences. That is where the 

arts come into play by communicating 

hazard vulnerability through storytelling 

and aesthetic experience. Using 

community art to link hazards with spaces 

and places contributes to a regional identity with which people intuitively 

associate. Something as simple as a mural on a flood barrier has the power 

to inspire conversations and build risk awareness, grow a community’s 

intuitive understanding of place, and boost civic pride that can strengthen 

resilience-building efforts. By linking risks to everyday community concerns, 

we can meet people where they are and engage in timely and relevant 

conversations. Through art, community officials can share information 

about risks and vulnerability to hazards with a diverse audience in a nonconfrontational manner and a comfortable environment. 

Risk Communication is the 

process of communicating 

potential losses of life and 

property from hazards and 

how said losses might be 

reduced or prevented.

ARTS AND CULTURE IN YOUR COMMUNITY

For local officials involved in hazard mitigation, this guide provides many easy ways to 

engage the arts and culture sector within your community. Partnering with this sector 

can expand your engagement strategy with the goal of reducing risk at every level of 

society, from the individual citizen to the whole community. 

As of 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that arts and cultural 

production accounts for over $804 billion (4.3 percent) of the U.S. economy, an 

impact larger than the transportation, tourism, or agriculture sectors. The arts sector 

contributes over 5 million jobs. This magnitude of impact demonstrates the influence 

artists can leverage when contributing to risk reduction efforts. It also shows the 

importance of identifying the mitigation needs of this valuable sector. 

Resources at the end of this guide 

can help you make the economic 

case for incorporating the arts into 

your hazard mitigation efforts. For 

example, the National Endowment 

for the Arts created an interactive 

map with data that demonstrate 

the power of the arts to drive the 

national and state economies. You 

can reference it when making the 

case for the role of arts and culture 

in your community. There are also 

resources that you can share with local artists and art organizations. For example, 

following a disaster, the non profit organization Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) 

provides emergency relief to studio artists.

A strong arts and culture sector can benefit both local economies and civil society. 

Concentrations of creative businesses are known to increase economic development 

and improve property value. Arts and cultural activities are also known to attract 

tourists, promote local pride, and increase civic engagement. Economic resilience and 

community cohesion are especially important in a post disaster environment. 

DID YOU KNOW?

NY NJ

Value added to state’s 

economy by the arts $114B $22B

Arts value added as 

share of state’s economy 7.8% 3.9%

Arts employment 462k 133k

Source: National Endowment for the Arts, State Level 

Estimates of Arts and Cultural Employment, 2017

Photo: Flood Mural, Rock Rapids, Iowa / Rock Rapids Arts Council Photo: Rabanus Park in Fargo, North Dakota / Rachel Asleson for The Fargo Project (2016)
The first goal of FEMA’s 

Strategic Plan is to Build 

a Culture of Preparedness. 

Engaging with arts and culture 

partners can help achieve these 

guiding principles:

1. Trust – Develop trust by 

understanding the culture, 

context, and history of 

communities outside of 

disaster, as well as when 

an event occurs. 

2. Inclusion – Bring the 

cultural perspectives of all 

stakeholders to the table. 

3. Cross-cultural communication 

– Design communication 

efforts as cross-cultural 

encounters. 

4. Support local practices 

and successes – Learn 

about the ways people 

are already prepared and 

enhance these efforts using 

culturally aware strategies.

ARTS AND CULTURE DURING RECOVERY AND BEYOND 

The creative process can be a powerful recovery tool when basic essentials 

like food and shelter have been secured, but communities are still struggling 

to reconnect to their pre-disaster identity, reflect on what has happened, and 

express what they have been through. Introducing the creative process and 

artists into the mitigation process does not just have to involve, for example, 

bringing a musician into your community to raise funds for disaster recovery. 

Creative expression can kindle long-term healing and inspire a common 

vision for community recovery that helps tackle the monumental challenges 

of rebuilding homes or reconnecting essential services. These efforts help 

the Nation build a culture of preparedness.

The arts can be effective in disaster recovery by:

• Providing an opportunity for reflection;

• Reducing the risk of conflict caused by stress and the feeling of 

overwhelming hopelessness;

• Establishing new communities;

• Reconnecting old communities;

• Reducing feelings of isolation;

• Strengthening citizens’ connection to place;

• Creating a shared sense of hope and optimism; and

• Channeling post-traumatic stress and anxiety into creative and 

productive community outcomes.

Beyond recovery, engaging with a 

diverse range of stakeholders is a 

crucial part of the mitigation planning 

process that bolsters community 

resilience. Cooperative relationships 

strengthen hazard mitigation plans 

and the ability of communities to 

implement mitigation goals. By bringing 

the arts and culture sectors into 

mitigation planning conversations, 

officials can identify projects that 

not only reduce risk, but also benefit 

the broader community. Artists can 

support hazard mitigation projects by 

leveraging ideas, talents, and funding 

streams to accomplish more together. 

Ultimately, resilient communities are 

connected communities; arts and culture 

stakeholders, in creating a sense of 

place and belonging, can bring people 

together, strengthen their bonds, and 

help them connect and protect each 

other before (and after) a disaster.

Photo: Masks in the Aftermath, U.S. Virgin Islands / William Steltzer
Performance Art & Forum Theater

Performance art combines the visual arts with dramatic performance. Forum theater 

is an interactive performance between actors and the audience. In this process, 

the audience can suggest different actions for the actors to carry out on-stage to 

change the outcome of what they are seeing. The goal is to bring audience members 

into the performance to shape conversations and ideas in a more collective forum. 

Performance art and forum theater offer a whole new method of public engagement. 

Traditional public engagement and outreach involves presenting risk information 

data in a public meeting and then asking for the public’s thoughts and comments. 

Communicating risk through a theater performance can democratize engagement in 

a meaningful way by speaking to individuals and officials more personally and on 

their own terms. 

Creative Placemaking

Placemaking is a multifaceted approach to the planning, design, and management 

of public spaces. Placemaking capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration, 

and potential with the intention of creating public spaces that promote people’s 

health, happiness, and well-being. Placemaking is both a process and a philosophy 

that uses urban design principles. It can be either official and government-led, 

or community-driven tactical urbanism—an approach that uses short-term, 

low-cost, and scalable interventions at the neighborhood scale. Too often, mitigation 

projects are identified, prioritized, and implemented with little to no concern for 

their impact on the community and their place within the cultural identity. The 

principles of creative placemaking can ensure that hazard mitigation projects and 

plans are not only effective at reducing risk but are culturally relevant and feasible 

within a community.

ARTISTS AS LOCAL CHAMPIONS

Artists are visionaries. Even amidst the challenges our communities 

face, they can imagine brighter possibilities. Artists are individuals with 

the innate ability to gather people in conversation and act as catalysts 

for change. Artists often work outside the constraints of government 

bureaucracy and policies, able to experiment freely and generate prototype 

ideas. With this in mind, local officials should consider artists as essential 

community partners in communicating and reducing risk through a variety 

of art forms. Each of the following sections describes different artistic 

mediums that can be used to communicate risk and mitigation.

Public Art

Public art is any medium meant to be placed in the physical public 

domain, usually outside and accessible to all. Public art includes art 

exhibited in a public space, including publicly accessible buildings. More 

important than its physical location is the relationship between the 

content and the audience, or what the art is saying and to whom. After 

time passes following the last disaster and hazard mitigation projects 

are implemented, a formerly heightened sense of risk is diminished and 

the public can quickly forget the importance of ongoing resiliency needs 

in the community. Public art presents an opportunity to remind people 

that risk is usually only reduced, not eliminated. It provides a space for 

our anxiety and fear without being invasive or direct. A permanent public 

art exhibit can remind us that we are vulnerable as both individuals and 

as communities, and there are actions we can take now to reduce those 

vulnerabilities and to build a culture of resilience and preparedness.

Music

Musical performances have the power to 

bring communities together. For thousands of 

years, people have used music to tell stories 

and explain the mysteries of life; music is an 

avenue for connecting with the world. When it 

comes to mitigation, music has the potential 

to be an anthem for risk reduction. A rousing 

song behind your cause can solidify support 

and garner attention for overlooked projects 

or community goals. Music is another medium to disseminate necessary 

risk information in a way that engages people who may not otherwise be 

interested. In one example, following floods in the small town of Lyons, 

Colorado in 2013, six local musicians came together to perform songs 

that touched on a sense of resilience, hope, and community.

Photo: Interim Flood Protection Measures (IFPM) Mural Arts Program in New York City

Song from 2013 Lyons, 

Colorado Floods 

Title: Little Rain

Original Release Date: 5/6/14

Release Date: 5/6/14

Label: The Watergirls

Copyright: 2014 Sally Truitt

Duration: 2:26 minutes
RESOURCES FOR ENGAGING 

THE ARTS AND CULTURE COMMUNITY

A first step to connect with the arts community is to engage your local or 

regional arts council. A link can be found here: nasaa-arts.org/. Several 

national organizations can provide greater understanding about the arts 

and culture community, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the 

Heritage Emergency National Task Force, Americans for the Arts, ArtPlace 

America, and the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking. There 

are also countless local organizations that may be a good resource as 

emergency managers begin strategizing ways to engage with stakeholders. 

In FEMA Region II, some examples of these organizations include the Mid 

Atlantic Arts Foundation, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the 

New York State Council on the Arts, and Creative New Jersey.

FEMA Hazard Mitigation Planning 

fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-planning

Review standards and guidance for the planning process.

What is Mitigation?

www.fema.gov/what-mitigation

Learn more about how FEMA defines mitigation.

Natural Hazards Center Observer, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6: 

Art and Disaster (July 2015)

hazards.colorado.edu/observer/archives

Learn more about how art contributes to communities during a disaster.

National Endowment for the Arts, How to Do Creative Placemaking 

(January 2017)

www.arts.gov/publications/how-do-creative-placemaking

Review case studies and ideas for how arts can play a role in making 

communities successful.

National Coalition for Arts Preparedness and Emergency Response, 

Cultural Placekeeping Guide (2017)

www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/Cultural-PlacekeepingGuide.pdf

Guidance on creating a network in the creative community for 

emergency action.

CERF+ Safety Net

cerfplus.org/cerf-responds-to-disasters/

An organization that helps artists who are recovering from recent disasters.

ENGAGE WITH US

Are you a state, territorial, tribal, or local official interested in making the 

connection between art and hazard mitigation? Are you an arts organization 

or artist interested in connecting with local officials to reduce risk from 

hazards? Please contact us at FEMA-R2-MT-Planning@fema.dhs.gov. 

REFERENCES CONSULTED 

American Planning Association (APA). 2019. “Arts, Culture & Creativity.” 

www.planning.org/research/arts/

Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2019. “Arts and Culture.” 

www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/arts-and-culture

Dwyer, Mary, Kelly Beavers, and Kimberly Hodgson, AICP. 2011. “How the Arts 

and Culture Sector Catalyzes Economic Vitality.” American Planning Association. 

www.planning.org/publications/document/9148001/

Kisida, Brian, and Daniel H. Bowen. 2019. “New Evidence of the Benefits of Arts 

Education.” The Brookings Institution. www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-centerchalkboard/2019/02/12/new-evidence-of-the-benefits-of-arts-education/

Knight, Cher Krause. 2008. Public Art: theory, practice and populism. 

Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

National Endowment for the Arts. 2017. “State-Level Estimates of Arts and Cultural 

Employment (2001-2014).” www.arts.gov/artistic-fields/research-analysis/arts-dataprofiles/arts-data-profile-13

Rebus Theatre. 2019. “What is Forum Theatre.” 

www.rebustheatre.com/what-is-forum-theatre#!

Roosegaarde, Daan. “Waterlicht.” Studio Roosegaarde. www.studioroosegaarde.net
Cover Photo: Waterlicht by Studio Roosegaarde / Daan Roosegaarde, www.studioroosegaarde.net

Hurricane Aftermath 

by Aminah Saleem

(Survivor of Hurricanes Irma & Maria, U.S. Virgin Islands)

This thing they call hurricane aftermath,

Is not like any math I know.

Not algebra, geometry, nor multiplication.

Wait. I know. It’s more like subtraction.

Take away all everyday conveniences and what do I have?

Zero.

Then, I must figure out a whole new way of living.

 I get it!

Aftermath, is the result of a new exponent in a math equation called life.

Just like any other math equation, I must solve it,

so I can move forward.

Hurricane aftermath takes critical thinking

but once I get the flow, I’ll be okay.

I will figure it out because failing is not an option.

Okay! In life, you must do the math.

Find solutions to problems after a hardball is thrown at you,

Making you wonder how to pick up the pieces and stay sane. 

Yes, hurricane aftermath is like math.

It is always hard, but you feel good when you ace the test.