From Festivals to Emergencies: Building Safer Communities Through Events
What does the best festival you’ve ever attended have in common with the scariest day your community has ever faced?
They’re both… events.
What comes to mind when you think of events? Concerts, festivals, sporting events, and fundraisers might immediately come to mind. But the definition also extends to hurricanes, tornados, and active-harmer situations.
In April of 2026, Youth on Record sent a delegation of four, including myself, to the ReadyWhen Training in New Orleans. ReadyWhen is an organization that provides hands-on training at the intersection of live events and crisis management to community pillars and event organizers like Youth on Record.
The skills and expertise required by event planners and emergency managers often overlap. Those coordinating our greatest celebrations and preparing for our most challenging crises must both know how to create resilient gatherings that center safety, sustainability, accessibility, and community engagement.
When this incredible opportunity was presented to the Rising Creatives Advisory Group, I jumped at the chance to apply. My current work as Youth on Record’s Rising Creatives Coordinator, alongside my desire to grow as a community leader in today’s socio-political climate, inspired my application.
What made this training especially unique and impactful was our host city of New Orleans - uniquely positioned for its history of both massive celebrations and devastating disasters.
New Orleans is a city that hosts an average of 45 special events every weekend (compared to an average of 10 special events per weekend in Denver). With sessions led by community leaders, event leads, and safety personnel that were key organizers during events including Hurricane Katrina, multiple Super Bowls, and the yearly Mardi Gras Parade, we were truly learning from the best in the country.
Across two days of activities, seminars, panels, and demonstrations, I learned a plethora of information and skills that directly apply to the work being done at Youth on Record and through our work as Rising Creatives.
I found Leigh Maher’s seminars especially applicable. Maher, General Manager of Lake Eden Retreat, shared insight into outdoor festival design, crowd management, advanced communications and troubleshooting, lost child protocol and more. These learnings will help Youth on Record improve each of its many annual community events, like the YOR Fest Youth Music Festival.
There were many actionable ideas Youth on Record can apply, like hosting roll call meetings before every event to ensure all the staff is on the same page about emergency and safety plans. Youth on Record can fortify its role as a community pillar by hosting Community Leader Breakfasts for Denver’s emergency response personnel and cultural institutions to establish a unified team if the need to mobilize emergency response in the community arises.
Additionally, emergency management is a hiring field. Given Youth on Record’s dedication to workforce development and financial stability for Rising Creatives, this is an area we can lean into. The ReadyWhen training is an actionable step in becoming an emergency response professional, providing in-depth training and a certificate useful for resumes. Hosting a ReadyWhen training in Denver would further develop our special events workforce. Beyond that, leaders can unite to discuss what they need from young professionals in this field and the emergency management career opportunities within their institutions.
The ReadyWhen training made it clear that cultural institutions and non-profits have a distinctive position at the intersection of events and emergency management. They serve as a trusted place for the community and disseminate critical information. Whether planning a celebration or facing an unexpected crisis, these are both events and need the same infrastructure and systems to make sure people are centered and protected.
