Museums Alaska is one of the founding members of the Alaska Heritage Emergency Network (AHEN), which was developed following the Alaska State Museum’s Preparing Alaska’s Cultural Organizations for Emergencies (PACO) Cohort.
Museums Alaska is a member of the steering committee and dedicated to ensuring the network supports cultural heritage organizations across Alaska as they prepare for and recover from disasters.
For additional museum and archival training opportunities offered through other national, regional and local organizations, check out the Training link to the right.
WHAT IS THE ALASKA HERITAGE EMERGENCY NETWORK?
AHEN was created in 2022 through an initiative of the cultural organizations of Alaska, the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHS&EM), and the Alaska Division of Libraries, Archives, and Museums (LAM) to provide a forum where analysis and information sharing can be supported. The cultural heritage community has a vested interest in being fully engaged in the collective emergency management process.
AHEN will strive to have meetings and conduct events focused on strengthening each cultural heritage sector’s knowledge and communicating how each contributes to disaster response and recovery. AHEN has established the following goals, subject to annual review and revision for the first five years:
- Support training opportunities and resources, including exercises
- Foster relationships
- Create a forum for sharing experiences, expertise, and lessons learned
- Support and assist disaster response in the state
- Create regions of responsibility and response
- Explore the creation of regional supply caches of response and recovery supplies
You can learn more, stay up-to-date on emergencies in Alaska, and join our monthly meetings by signing up for our listserv.
