Nothing will ever fully prepare communities for a natural disaster, but conferences that share information or experiences are powerful in the way they advise delegates what to think about, vulnerability and the possible effects if no thought is given to them. They also provide great networking opportunities to meet people who you can keep in contact with in a variety of ways.
Below are a few examples of how conferences have fostered the support networks within Canterbury in recent years.
The Canterbury Disaster Salvage Team http://www.disalteam.co.nz/team.htm is a voluntary group of professional people who work in the cultural and heritage sector. They are committed to supporting the community and providing training so run an annual workshop that includes guest speakers who share knowledge on a variety of aspects related to disaster preparedness, as well as a range of other services.
The Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre at the Air Force Museum was established in 2013 for a fixed term of three years in order to assist heritage institutions affected by the Canterbury Earthquakes. It was collaborative project with assistance from various organisations across the country. The role of the CCCRC was to provide space for organisations that had either lost their premises, or needed to store and catalogue their collections whilst they worked through their repair process. Most groups have found new homes and have moved offsite, while others who need further storage support have moved their material into one of the Air Force Museum’s other buildings until 2018.
Cantage (a word amalgamated from ‘Canterbury’ and ‘Heritage’) https://cantage.wordpress.com/ is an informal group of members of the regional collecting and exhibiting community. Cantage provides a forum to discuss topics relevant to archives, storage, preservation, digitisation, exhibitions, events, training and professional development. Membership to Cantage is open to those within the Canterbury region to foster local networking amongst members, collection development, and collaboration.
We have worked with these networks, seen an amazing amount of innovation and watched people that are passionate about prevention helping others contribute to the city’s recovery.
Please contact us if you would like to know more about the variety of support services we can help you with.