Sharnita C. Johnson Has Been Named Arts Program Director at Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

 

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation today announced the appointment of Sharnita C. Johnson as Arts Program Director.

 

Johnson, a Detroit native, brings to the position more than 20 years of experience with community-focused nonprofits and the arts, including serving in program officer roles at two prominent foundations in Michigan.

 

Since 2012, Johnson has managed a $25 million grantmaking portfolio in education, health and family economic security at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Prior to that, she was a senior program officer at the Skillman Foundation, where she developed strategic partnerships and oversaw neighborhood development, arts and culture, and youth development grantmaking.

 

In her role at Dodge, Johnson will direct the Foundation’s Arts grants, which foster a diverse and vibrant arts ecosystem, create broad-based public support of the arts, and support communities engaged in creative placemaking in New Jersey. Dodge currently awards more than $3 million annually to established and emerging arts organizations throughout the state. 

 

Johnson, who holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a Bachelor of Arts from Marygrove College in Detroit, has also worked at the Ruth Mott Foundation, Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, and Detroit’s Museum of African American History.

 

Johnson will begin her new position on Jan. 20, 2015. She was selected after a broad national search.