Creating Change Trustee Learning Cohort | New Jersey Theatre Alliance

Creating Change Trustee Learning Cohort: Building Healthy, Effective, and Equitable Boards

Could the board where you serve be more engaged, aligned, equitable, and equipped to support the organization’s mission?

The Creating Change Trustee Cohort is a three-session virtual learning experience for board members and executive leaders who want to build stronger, healthier, and more effective boards. Offered through the Creating Change Network, this program recognizes that effective governance and equity go hand in hand. Healthy boards are better equipped to make sound decisions, steward resources responsibly, engage diverse perspectives, and advance their missions in meaningful ways.

This learning cohort offers tools, strategies, and conversations that can help trustees strengthen their leadership while building organizations that are equitable, effective, and resilient.

Organizations that have sent two trustees have found the shared experience to be of benefit. Executive leaders who work closely with their boards may also find the program valuable and are welcome to accompany their board representatives at no cost.

New this year! Representatives of boards from non-arts nonprofits are welcome to participate. We have added this option after feedback from trustees who serve on both arts and non-arts boards who believed that all trustees in New Jersey would benefit from this learning opportunity!

Registration opens soon and closes February 1st. The cohort is limited to 40 members.

Topics:

This is a three-part training. Participants must attend all three sessions to complete the series.

Session 1: Building a Healthy Board Culture

February 10, 2027 | 9:00 am – 11:00 am

What are the responsibilities of a board and an individual trustee? What makes a board truly effective? Participants will explore the foundations of strong governance while examining how power, inclusion, and access shape board culture, decision-making, and leadership. This session challenges participants to consider how equitable governance practices contribute to healthier and more impactful organizations.

Session 2: Policies, People, and Organizational Health

February 17, 2027 | 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Strong organizations rely on clear policies, healthy workplace practices, and shared accountability. This session examines the board’s role in supporting organizational culture, overseeing key policies, and creating conditions where staff, leadership, and board members can thrive. Participants will also explore how policies can advance equity and help organizations align their practices with their values.

Session 3: Aligning Resources with Purpose

February 24, 2027 | 9:00am – 11:00am

Budgets and fundraising are more than financial tools. They reflect priorities and values. Participants will explore how boards can support financial sustainability while considering whose needs are being served, how resources are distributed, and how fundraising and budgeting decisions can advance their mission and a more equitable and just world.

Program Cost:

Due to the loss of federal funding, the program carries a modest participation fee. The full three-part training costs $100 per person, or $200 total for up to three representatives from the same arts organization.

New this year! Representatives of boards from non-arts nonprofits are welcome to participate at a rate of $150 per person or $300 total for up to three representatives from the same non-arts nonprofit organization.

If the fee presents a barrier for you, we still want you to participate. Please reach out to Erica Nagel at enagel@njtheatrealliance.org and we will do our best to accommodate.

Who Should Participate:

This training program is designed for board members from nonprofit organizations of any size or discipline who want to serve with greater confidence, clarity, and purpose through an equity-centered approach.

We have found great benefit in multiple trustees from the same organization going through the program together. This both allows for partnered processing and action, and ensures that the onus of this work is not left to one board representative.

Executive leaders who work closely with their boards may also find the program valuable, and are welcome to accompany their board representatives at no cost.

Facilitator

Dr. Brea Heidelberg

Dr. Brea M. Heidelberg (she/her) is an organizational management consultant, educator, and researcher. She is a Professor of Arts Management in the Department of Arts & Entertainment Enterprise at Drexel University, where her research and practical work focus on psychological safety in organizations. Dr. Heidelberg’s ongoing research interests include human resources theory and practice and the intellectual history and professionalization of the field of arts management. Her most recent publication is Human Resources in the Arts (Routledge, 2025).

Her consulting work helps organizations operate efficiently, equitably, and humanely. This includes supporting organizations in executive searches, employee and board member recruitment and retention, stakeholder engagement and empowerment, organizational assessments and evaluations, internal policy development, and workshop facilitation. She has also helped several granting institutions at the local, state, and federal levels reimagine their processes to be more equitable and inclusive. Dr. Heidelberg has had a wide range of professional experiences that include time as a dancer and choreographer, positions in community engagement and programming at both visual and performing arts organizations, and work in federal and state-level government agencies.

Dr. Heidelberg earned her MS in Human Resource Development from Villanova University and her doctorate in Arts Administration, Education, and Policy from The Ohio State University. She thoroughly enjoys office supplies, graphic novels, and playing video games with her boys: Beau & Theo.

Testimonials from Past Participants

“Each session was incredibly valuable in its own way. Personally, I also felt myself evolve quite a bit as they went on, and plan to share some ideas with fellow board members.”

“It was great to hear from so many arts professionals and board members who know the challenges that I, and my organization, face on a daily basis.”

“Presenters were EXCELLENT. The format worked well, with frequent opportunities to share and listen.”

“It deepened my understanding of how to engage a very diverse set of stakeholders, all interconnected in achieving my organization’s mission.”

“This is probably the best diversity training program I’ve attended!!”

“You will learn new perspectives as well as tactics for leading a more inclusive organization – from both instructors and peers.”

“This is a comfortable space to discuss uncomfortable issues and an excellent way to connect personally with other arts organizations around the state.”

“I’ve been studying race, racism, bigotry, and hate since high school…Still, with all I have read, reported on, learned through interviews with those impacted, and witnessed, this series of seminars was enlightening in a whole new way. Although I was aware of much of what was presented, the series gave me the opportunity to dive much deeper into DEI from the vantage point of effecting change from within an organization. Thank you for the opportunity to take part.”

About the Creating Change Network

The Creating Change Network is a program of New Jersey Theatre Alliance in partnership with ArtPride New Jersey, with a mission to build a more equitable, just, accessible, and anti-racist arts community in New Jersey.

Guided by a steering committee of arts professionals and social justice leaders, the Creating Change Network offers ongoing opportunities for learning and collaboration to move the arts sector forward. The Creating Change Network is committed to the long-term endeavor of shifting culture, empowering leaders, sharing strategies, ensuring accountability, and sustaining hope so that individuals and organizations can progress in this work.

The activities of the Creating Change network are supported by the Grunin Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.