Events – COSTEP MA

COSTEP MA aims to bring together representatives of cultural and historical institutions and agencies and first responder and emergency management professionals through programming that includes training sessions, symposia, workshops, and community meetings.

Upcoming events

Boston Green Ribbon Commission webinar: “Collaborative Climate Action Planning”

Part 2 of the COSTEP/Boston GRC program on climate resiliency will take a deep dive into Climate Action Planning. Join us for this upcoming webinar, scheduled for Friday, March 4th from 12:00pm – 1:30pm ET. More information is below, including details for how to register.

Join the Boston Green Ribbon Commission for the upcoming GRCx program Collaborative Climate Action Planning

Climate action planning is an essential element of institutional risk management, as well as an opportunity to reinvigorate organizational priorities and practices and refine management systems. The Boston Green Ribbon Commission’s Collaborative Climate Action Planning program is designed to reduce common barriers to identifying and managing climate risks and support organizations in creating practical roadmaps for climate action. First launched with a group of ten Boston cultural institutions in June of 2021 with planned completion in mid-2022, the program creates a peer learning community to expand and deepen education around carbon mitigation; resiliency to climate impacts like heat and flooding; and climate justice. As the first cohort approaches the halfway point, participants have established their process, plans, and next steps and are ready to share and inspire future project participants.

This GRCx – a follow on to Climate Resiliency for Cultural Heritage, a program executed last fall with COSTEP MA – will provide an overview of climate action planning and will offer a peek into the development process, goals, and next steps at the Museum of Science, Esplanade Association, and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, along with program leader, Dallase Scott of Trust. Panelists will discuss practicalities such as identifying climate risks, measuring baseline impacts, organizing for action, gaining the attention of leadership, designing internal communication, engaging stakeholders, finding resources, and keeping an eye on applicable regulations. You will hear details about how each institution conducted its unique planning process to achieve the common goals of climate awareness and preparedness while contributing to a climate-ready, equitable, and carbon-free Boston.

Speakers
Paul Ippolito
Vice President of Facilities and Building Operations
Museum of Science, Boston

Christine Francois
Programs & Sustainability Coordinator
Esplanade Association

Clifford Rust
Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Dallase Scott
Founder and Principal
Trust

About GRCx:
GRCx is an interactive program series from the Boston Green Ribbon Commission designed to accelerate the implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan by providing high-quality, useful content on climate resilience and carbon mitigation to the Boston community.

Past events

Climate Resiliency for Cultural Heritage webinar

Join COSTEP and the Boston Green Ribbon Commission for a co-sponsored webinar about the impacts of climate change to cultural heritage. Are you wondering about threats due to climate change? How you might begin to address some of these concerns? Join us for an hour-long session to go over these points and more.

Tuesday November 9th from 1:00 – 2:00pm ET

Speakers:
Amy Longsworth, Director, Boston Green Ribbon Commission
Rodney Rowland, Director of Facilities and Environmental Sustainability, Strawbery Banke Museum
Mark Thompson, Executive Director of the Newport Restoration Foundation
Alejandra Dean, Digital Archivist, Massachusetts Archives

Massachusetts is home to many organizations that steward cultural heritage materials. From our Town Clerks’ offices to local historical societies to museums to major academic institutions, we hold collections with unique and enduring value. Ensuring lasting access to these materials is a core element of stewardship. The importance of planning for emergencies to protect our collections is widely accepted, but the effect of climate change on collections care activities requires new thinking and new approaches.

This is the first of a two-part program co-hosted by COSTEP MA and the Boston Green Ribbon Commission. Part 1 will: explain how climate change impacts cultural institutions; share insights and observations from cultural heritage institutions about their work in meeting challenges posed by climate change; explore current efforts to understand the cultural heritage landscape in Massachusetts through a statewide mapping project; and introduce climate action planning so that you can leave with the foundational knowledge needed to begin working towards climate resiliency.

Pandemic Safety at Cultural Heritage Institutions, April 29, 3p-4p

Standards and practices for workplace safety—and for the safety of those communities we serve—have dramatically changed due to COVID-19. To keep rates of infection low, minimize risks to ourselves and our visitors, and as scientific studies continually emerge to further elucidate the nature of the virus and how it is transmitted, these standards and practices have evolved over the course of the pandemic.

This virtual event hosts two panelists:

Michael Flanagan, Director, Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards, to present the current standards applicable to cultural institutions including libraries and museums; and
Dr. Martin Z. Bazant, E. G. Roos (1944) Professor of Chemical Engineering / Digital Learning Officer / Professor of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to present an interactive and publicly-available online tool that helps users self-assess air quality in their building spaces, and estimate the risks of airborne virus transmission.

Learn with COSTEP: A study group to apply the Incident Command System (ICS) to your cultural institution

COSTEP MA will be hosting an informal study group between December 2020 and February 2021 to go over the Incident Command System (ICS). All are encouraged to join to learn more about, or get a refresher on, this standardized approach to emergency response that has been in place at the local, state, and national levels since the 1970s. Knowing the ins and outs of ICS can better prepare you to coordinate with local first responders and state emergency managers when a disaster strikes, and can be very helpful when thinking about how your cultural institution might respond internally. How do we coordinate activities across teams or departments? Who is in charge? How is that decision made? For larger disasters, knowing ICS is a reliable means of understanding how federal, state, and local response will be organized for that disaster.

The self-paced study group is a great opportunity for beginners to receive their first ICS training and for anyone familiar with ICS to receive a training and implementation refresher. At your own pace, take the basic ICS training and then watch a video from David W. Carmicheal on applying this to cultural institutions. We will join together in February as a group to have a study session and discuss what we learned, ask questions, and further discuss applying this model to your own institution. All activities are free.

December 2020: ICS 100 Training.
- At your own pace, enroll and complete ICS 100 training through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): https://training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-100.c
January 2021: Learn about implementation.
- Schedule a time to watch David W. Carmicheal’s webinar, The Supercharged Management System, published through the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation (FAIC)’s Connecting to Collections Care program, to learn how to put ICS to use: https://www.connectingtocollections.org/ics/
February 2021: ICS training round-up and FAQ.
- Join COSTEP MA for an informal, virtual meet-up on Monday, February 22nd from 2:00-3:00pm to discuss all things ICS. Bring your questions, comments, and insights from what you’ve learned! To receive the Zoom information, email costepma@gmail.com.

For more information, visit the event details blog post at: https://mblc.state.ma.us/costepma/index.php/2020/11/30/learn-with-costep-a-study-group-to-apply-the-incident-command-system-ics-to-your-cultural-institution/

Tabletop Exercise Materials

Tabletop Exercise Agenda Download

Scenario 1 prompt and discussion questions Download

Scenario 2 prompt and discussion questions Download

Scenario 3 prompt and discussion questions Download

COSTEP MA Virtual Tabletop Exercise
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
10:00am – 12:00pm ET

COSTEP MA is excited to announce a new, free program that will provide Massachusetts cultural heritage institutions a chance to test and improve their disaster plans: the COSTEP MA Virtual Tabletop Exercise (TTX). A tabletop exercise presents one (or many) hypothetical scenarios through moderated prompts that simulate the experience of responding to a disaster. The COSTEP MA TTX will host multiple institutions in a virtual setting to test their plans, respond to disaster scenarios in real time, and then discuss the decision-making process with each other through virtual conference technology. Most or all of an institution’s staff are encouraged to participate. COSTEP MA plans to offer multiple exercises in 2020, and participation will be limited for each exercise.

In order to participate, your institution must commit to the following requirements:

The purpose of a TTX is to test your disaster plan. Your institution must have an up-to-date disaster plan that has been reviewed by participating staff to bring to the exercise on September 22^nd. In order to help institutions prepare for the exercise and update their plans, COSTEP MA will be publishing a short blog series over the summer on tips for updating your plan.

A TTX provides your staff with an opportunity to work together as a team to respond to a simulated disaster. Your institution should ensure that multiple staff members are available to participate together on September 22^nd. The TTX planners strongly encourage participation by leadership, response team members, and facilities staff. Volunteers and board members, if they have a role in response, are also welcome to participate as institutional members.

Hurricane Season Readiness webinar
Tuesday, June 16, 2020

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted a busy hurricane season for 2020. As institutions begin planning for reopening procedures during the state’s four-phased approach, now is the time to factor in hurricane preparedness.

Join COSTEP MA, a statewide network of cultural heritage and emergency management professionals, for a virtual presentation and Q&A session with Matthew Belk, a Lead Meteorologist for the National Weather Service, Boston, on the 2020 upcoming hurricane season.

This webinar will:

cover hazards posed by tropical storms and hurricanes in southern New England;
enable your institution to evaluate hurricane-related threats to your facilities; and
prepare you to begin the process of constructing a mitigation plan.

Massachusetts Libraries Respond to Emergencies with COSTEP MA
April 24, 2020

Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness in Massachusetts (COSTEP MA) is a network of representatives of cultural and historical institutions as well as first responder and emergency management professionals from federal, state, and municipal governments. COSTEP MA co-chairs Alejandra Dean (Massachusetts Archives) and Evan Knight (Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners) will discuss strategies and resources developed by COSTEP MA to help better prepare for and respond to a disaster or emergency. As our communities are now confronted with challenges and disruptions related to COVID-19, this webinar will focus its discussion of resources on those related to the current public health crisis.