Crafting a Safety Net: Disaster Preparations for Studios and Small Businesses

Asheville, North Carolina’s French Broad River had flooded before, so ceramic artist Sarah Wells Rolland had a plan to save the equipment in her thriving business, The Village Potters Clay Center, when Hurricane Helene barreled down in September 2024. 

Rolland had rounded up three 26-foot trucks for dozens of volunteers to fill with the center’s equipment and supplies. They moved as many things as possible to the second floor. But the rains came early and the trucks couldn’t reach the site. With time to save just one kiln, Rolland, her husband, and fellow potters had to evacuate. “We knew we were losing everything when we drove away,” she says. 

For Quilting Arts magazine founder and retreat host Pokey Bolton, wildfire was the threat her California home and art barn faced in October 2017. A neighbor called in the middle of the night to alert her. “I opened the window and smoke came billowing in,” she recalls. With no time to think, she “grabbed the dogs, and the cat and got into my car with some toothpaste and left.” She could see fires ringing the mountains around her home. 

For crafters and artists with their own studio spaces or small businesses, dealing with a natural disaster can be especially challenging. It’s one of the reasons the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) offers a downloadable artist studio protection guide on its website. Among the topics covered are taking inventory, protecting records, business insurance, emergency preparation, and more.  

Following the guide can help crafters and business owners be better prepared. “Although no measures can completely eliminate risk from disasters, there are steps makers can take to protect their studios and workspaces,” says Charity Hall, CERF+ communications manager.

Identify, Insure, Inventory

Identifying and mitigating risks was important for Bolton, who says her property was saved thanks to a fire hydrant and water holding tank she had been required to install and the work of a local handyman to remove flammable brush from the site.

Purchasing business insurance and understanding policy details is critical, Hall mentions. Rolland couldn’t afford to fully insure her equipment-heavy clay center located in a flood plain but has been able to file a claim for a portion of the value. 

Both CERF+ and Nest, a nonprofit supporting makers and artisans, offer comprehensive information on insurance. “Artists who would never consider driving a car without liability insurance too often operate their businesses without this vital coverage,” Nest explains in its climate resilience guide.

“Many artists mistakenly believe that their homeowners’ insurance will cover them.”

Nest estimates that most artists can obtain a basic business owner’s policy for about $500 per year (unless they have to insure a building). 

The Nest guide offers questions to help crafters understand the details of coverage and explains that in areas prone to disasters like wildfire or hurricanes, makers may need to tap into their state’s public insurance program if a regular policy is not available or affordable. 

Having an inventory of equipment and materials is also critical. CERF+ recommends recording information on all “art-making tools, equipment and supplies, artworks, business equipment and supplies and other assets.” While it may be a task that gets back-burnered, an inventory is necessary when applying for recovery funds or filing an insurance claim. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) offers a free app that makes the process easier. CERF+ also lists other tools to help with inventorying. 

Keeping inventory and other key records secure and backed up is also important. Asheville potter Lindsay Rust, who has just started her art business, uses her laptop to keep track of business income and expenses. “That laptop stays with me wherever I go, and as long as I am safe, my records are safe,” she says.

“I frequently back up my laptop to an external hard drive and subscribe to cloud storage to keep records safe and accessible offsite.” 

Getting Relief

Days after the fire, Bolton was able to return to her property to find it intact, except for food spoiled in the fridge and fabric that would have to be treated to remove the smell of smoke. 

For Rolland and Rust at The Village Potters, the destruction was complete. “There were full-grown, uprooted trees in our hallway, propane tanks and the smell of gas and sewage,” Rust remembers. 

Fortunately, groups like CERF+ provide emergency relief grants. Hall says the organization has already received large numbers of applications from craft artists affected by the LA wildfires. In addition, the group has distributed $1,854,000 in grants to 618 craft artists affected by Hurricane Helene.

Rolland contemplated chucking it all in and downsizing the business. Her husband and volunteers dug through the mud to salvage what they could and filled about 10 Penske trucks. They disassembled, power-washed, and reassembled pottery wheels while Rolland and volunteer advisors negotiated a lease on a new, larger space far from the river. The Village Potters’s comeback has been made possible by grants, insurance payouts, and support from donors.  

Those donors represent what could be a key element in disaster relief for crafters: their community. A section in the CERF+ guide acknowledges the importance of people and is entitled “Set Up Your Personal Support Network.”

 Community support is woven into crafters’ disaster stories, from donors to GoFundMe campaigns to volunteer cleanup efforts to artisans helping each other. In LA, for example, yarn stores began accepting donations of needles and supplies for “yarn relief kits.” “The knitting community has been overwhelmingly generous with their materials. Donations have poured in from across the country with sincere notes of encouragement and support,” says Teri Artinyan co-owner of Wildfiber Studio in Santa Monica. The Knitting Tree LA in Inglewood has called for donations and for people to knit emotional support chickens to be personally delivered to families who need extra care.

Without a studio to work in, Rolland decided to help pay bills by offering workshops around the country. “I had so many responses,” she says. “I was overwhelmed and crying… overwhelmed with support.”