Earlier this month, Wharton Arts, based in Berkeley Heights, NJ, welcomed Carol Chickering Burden as its new President and CEO. Wharton’s programs include the New Jersey Youth Symphony, New Jersey Youth Chorus and Paterson Music Project, and the role is a return to New Jersey arts for Burden – she was Executive Director of Trenton Music Makers, and after overseeing its merger with Trenton Children’s Chorus, led the resulting organization, Capital Harmony Works, for an additional year and a half. She spent the past three years as director of philanthropy at New York Junior Tennis and Learning, a move she said was mostly for geographic reasons. Now she is looking forward to working with Wharton’s wide range of music programs. Like Trenton Music Makers, Paterson Music Project was inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema program, which offers music instruction to students who might not otherwise have access to such opportunities.
A Tempo host Rachel Katz catches up with Burden to talk about Wharton's and the value of studying music.
The program also includes a follow-up on Princeton University Concerts' Music and Healing concert series. The initiative features concerts by and conversations with artists about a variety of health issues, from mental health to the impact of long Covid. Its staff was recently notified that a 2023 bone marrow donor sign-up drive it hosted in 2023 had resulted in a match and donation – a life-saving process. Rachel chats with Communications and Event Coordinator Alexis Branagan and Outreach Manager Dasha Koltunyuk about the program's impact.
