Author Archives: Laura Otten
Dodge TA: Building the board you need to grow in tumultuous times
July 9, 2020Pennsylvania went into “lockdown” first. Within a week, New Jersey, and New York had followed suit. My conversations with board members and executive directors started on March 13, the day Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf announced that the Commonwealth would go on … Continue reading
The Power of Using Talent for Good
July 12, 2017When considering the ways in which the private sector can advance global health and development and improve our world, a few obvious options come to mind. Funding is usually high on the list, as is research and development, but other … Continue reading
Survey of the Social Sector: Rising Demand, Resource Gaps, and Opportunities
June 15, 2017The Center for Non-Profits has been surveying the New Jersey non-profit community at least annually since 2001 to gauge the effects of the economy, funding and programmatic trends, and other issues in our field. This year’s report, New Jersey Non-Profits … Continue reading
Board Leadership: Relationships Among the Parts
June 13, 2017Faithful readers of the Dodge Blog know that I have repeatedly urged practitioners in the social sector to “plan backwards” from a shared vision of success, using qualitative assessment rubrics as a tool. If you make time for the process … Continue reading
Arts Ed Now: From Armenia With Love
May 24, 2017The most important life lessons I have ever learned came from my music teacher in Yerevan, Armenia. When I was 15, Rita Israelovna Petrosian was my music theory and solfege — the study of singing and musicianship using solmization syllables … Continue reading
Arts Ed Now: Seasons of Love — An Art and Music Mural Project
July 6, 2016A few years ago, I found myself in a new situation as an art educator. After seven years of teaching high school art, I was embarking upon a new adventure: middle school. Here I was, several years into my career, … Continue reading
Arts Ed Now: Youth Art Month Kicks Off to Celebrate “My Art, My Story”
March 2, 2016Youth Art Month encourages support for quality school art programs, and promotes art material safety. March is Youth Art Month, a time “to celebrate visual arts for grades K-12, emphasize the value of art education for all children, and … Continue reading
Morris Arts: Living Wall at 14 Maple Ave Inspiration for New Art Exhibit
February 29, 2016Black, White and Green Opens at Gallery at 14 Maple on March 3 The living wall that anchors 14 Maple Ave is the inspiration behind a new art exhibit that opens this week on the building’s third floor gallery. A free … Continue reading
News Sites Partner to Put Spotlight on Immigration in New Jersey
February 22, 2016NJ Spotlight, Center for Cooperative Media and New America Media launch $30,000 crowdfunding campaign The run-up to the presidential election has thrust the subject of immigration squarely into the center of public discourse. Yet much of the discussion thus far … Continue reading
The Patron Saints of Dancers
March 15, 2010Laura Aden Packer, Program Director, Arts Saint Vitus may be the acknowledged patron saint of dancers, but New Jersey dance companies and artists know that the true patron saint of dancers is Randy James. Saint Randy, currently an assistant professor … Continue reading
A Season of Faith’s Perfection for the Arts in NJ
January 6, 2010Laura Aden Packer, Program Director, Arts I was watching “Finding Forrester” a couple of nights ago. I may be the only person in the Western Hemisphere who hadn’t seen this film yet. The plot in brief: A gifted, African-American teenager … Continue reading
Survey Says: It’s Still Pretty Tough Out There
October 26, 2009Laura Aden Packer, Program Director, Arts It’s not easy being a nonprofit arts organization in New Jersey according to the latest results of a survey done by ArtPride/New Jersey, our state’s arts advocacy organization. And it’s really tough being an … Continue reading
Inspiring Books, Blogs, Websites, and Articles
October 12, 2009Laura Aden Packer, Program Director, Arts Over the summer, we asked several of our grantees to share their thoughts on a range of issues with us – Environment Program Director Michelle Knapik wrote about some of their responses in her … Continue reading
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
September 23, 2009Laura Aden Packer, Arts Program Director My husband, Mark and I returned not too long ago from a glorious two-week vacation in northwestern Maine, where we stayed on a beautiful, pristine body of water with the unlikely name of Mooselookmeguntic … Continue reading
Camden: The Garden City
July 22, 2009Laura Aden Packer, Program Director, Arts If we were playing a word association game about places in New Jersey, what would be the first thing you’d think of if I said “Camden”? Did you answer “community gardens”? No? Well, you … Continue reading