TX-cera blue sky initiative [TX-cera?s blue sky initiative is a three-year project designed to provide broadly accessible training opportunities in emergency preparedness and disaster response for all…

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded $315,880 to TX-CERA under the Promotion of the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access program (CFDA 45.149) on September 1, 2025, to support a three-year project concluding August 31, 2028. The Blue Sky Initiative delivers comprehensive training and preparedness resources to cultural heritage custodians throughout Texas. Key deliverables include an in-person introduction to emergency preparedness workshop, a six-unit virtual course with hands-on workshop components, emergency plan review webinars, a fire response training exercise, and virtual disaster response tabletop exercises. All workshop and training participants receive emergency preparedness go-bags.

The project builds upon TX-CERA's prior training offerings and is designed to establish a statewide network of trained individuals capable of protecting and recovering cultural holdings during emergencies. By engaging the cultural heritage community broadly across Texas, the initiative addresses critical capacity-building and infrastructure needs within museums, historical societies, libraries, and other heritage institutions—aligning with NEH's priority of strengthening institutional stewardship capabilities for preservation and access activities.

TX-cera blue sky initiative [TX-cera?s blue sky initiative is a three-year project designed to provide broadly accessible training opportunities in emergency preparedness and disaster response for all custodians of cultural heritage material throughout texas. We aim to engage the cultural heritage community in its broadest sense to build a network of trained individuals empowered to act preemptively and effectively in protecting and recovering cultural holdings within their communities and when necessary to respond regionally and statewide. Our proposed project builds on workshops and training courses we have offered in recent years and includes an introduction to emergency preparedness for cultural heritage organizations in-person workshop, a six-unit virtual course with a hands-on workshop, emergency plan review webinars, a fire response training exercise, and virtual disaster response tabletop exercises. Workshop and training course participants will be provided with go-bags.]