“Studio safety is important because as artists we want to focus our energy on being creative. That’s difficult to do while working in an unsafe environment.”

-Craig Thibodeau, furniture maker courtesy of CERF+

This page provides resources and/or information on ways to maintain safe creative spaces for artists and audiences either through preparation, materials, and/or safety precautions.

Preparation

CERF+ Artist Disaster Risks Guide – This guide provides tips and advice on how to best prepare your creative space for disasters.

CERF+ Studio Protector – A resource page on prepping, insuring, and assessing risk for studios.

Houston Arts Alliance: Prep for All Hazards – “Preparing for “all-hazards” requires knowing your risks and developing emergency plans to use during and after the situation. The plan will layout procedures for communication, preparedness, response and recovery. Your All-Hazards Emergency Plan can be as detailed or as simple as you choose to make it. The most important thing is that it is user friendly for your staff and volunteers.”

Performing Arts Readiness – The Performing Arts Readiness (PAR) project supports a variety of programs to increase knowledge and the ability of performing arts organizations to create and execute emergency recovery plans. The PAR project will offer free webinars and onsite training, conference presentations, grants, and tools to help build the field’s capacity for disaster preparedness. Some of Performing Arts Readiness resources include:

• PAR Online Resources for Disaster Planning and Recovery includes resources for creating a Disaster Plan, Business Planning, Emergency Networks, and other resource links.
• Loss of Income Calculator: This tool presents a starting point as to what your organization’s losses would be; this is only one small aspect of the overall approach of the Performing Arts Readiness project, which includes discussion of risks and business resumption in webinars, live classes and presentations, articles, and consultations with individual institutions.

Materials & Environment

Scorecard: The Pollution Information Site – Scorecard is the web’s most popular resource for information about pollution problems and toxic chemicals. Find out about the pollution problems in your community and learn who is responsible. See which geographic areas and companies have the worst pollution records.

GoodGuide – GoodGuide uses product ingredient information coupled with authoritative sources for chemical regulations to rate products so that consumers can have instant access to credible product information that is easily understood. GoodGuide collects product ingredient information through publicly available data (found on ingredient labels and websites) or directly from the manufacturer.

Environmental Health, Toxicology & Chemical Information: Arts & Crafts Materials – TEHIP is part of the Division of Specialized Information Services (SIS), which produces information resources covering toxicology, environmental health, outreach to underserved and special populations, HIV/AIDS, drugs and household products, and disaster/emergency preparedness and response. 

US Consumer Product Safety Commission Art Materials Business Guidance – Art materials for consumers of all ages must comply with a number of requirements under federal law.  Art materials that are designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger must meet additional requirements, which are described on this page.

Precautions

Nontoxicprint: Nontoxic Printmaking, Safe Painting & Printed Art – “Visitors to this Nontoxic Printmaking website are often looking for information about health and safety. This page aims to respond to some of the most common concerns by reproducing articles and extracts from existing publications and by directing printmakers to sources of expert opinion and advice.”

GYST Health and Safety in the Studio – It is necessary to know the precautions within the studio in order to stay safe. It’s important to know the materials that you are using, but also what others are using in your presence.

Princeton University Visual Arts Material Safety – Princeton’s art department provides a safety guide that includes different visual arts’ safety procedures for both faculty and artists.

Princeton University Theatre Safety – Princeton’s art department provides a safety guide for participants that are in theatre.