Dear Fellow Arts Pros:

The Arts & Culture Alliance is a membership-driven non-profit arts organization responsible to more than 100 arts and culture organizations in the Greater Knoxville area of East Tennessee.

Our members perform at or manage venues ranging in size from 50-2,300 seats, so I am interested in hiring a consulting firm to travel to Knoxville to train staff members on the best ways to prepare for and respond quickly to a possible active shooter situation. I anticipate that we will have 50 people who would want to participate in this training, although it could be more.

Have any of you sponsored active shooter training for arts organizations’ events?

Do you know of another arts organization that hosts large public gatherings that has had success in providing active shooter training to its staff?

I have found consultants to provide active shooter training for office situations, but none who provide active shooter training for performing arts venues, so I’m looking for a place to start.

Here is a link to a short active shooter training video “Run. Hide. Fight.” Produced by Ready Houston that was shared with me by one of our members. Here again, it seems to address office situations more than large venues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VcSwejU2D0

Thank you so much for your recommendations.

Liza Zenni

Executive Director

Arts & Culture Alliance

(865) 523-7543