Hello!

Susan Oetgen
Founder & Principal

‘Action expresses priorities.’ I am motivated by Mahatma Gandhi’s words to bring my passion for lifelong learning in the arts into all of my work. I believe that engaging in the arts lets us imagine and embody our truest selves. I aspire to help as many people as possible use their innate creative genius to build a better world for all, now and for generations to come.

For over twenty years, I have served as an arts manager, facilitator and teaching artist with a variety of arts and education organizations, including the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, Young Audiences Arts for Learning, Oregon Cultural Arts Coalition, Wyoming Arts Council, President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, American Composers Orchestra, Stamford Symphony, International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium, SchoolTalk, Everyday Arts for Special Education and The Field (New York and Washington, DC). In a parallel professional journey, I have been a long time creator and performer of original music and theater as a solo artist and with my ‘indie art song’ band Likeness to Lily, and have performed nationally and internationally with Cynthia Hopkins, Howard Fishman, Daniel Burkholder, Bob Massey, Havana Select and other highly recommended artists.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Theology with a specialization in the religions of the African Diaspora from Georgetown University; a Master of Music in classical vocal performance with a specialization in Latin American vocal music from the Catholic University of America; and a graduate certificate in Advanced Skills in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. I was born and raised in the Washington, DC area (Piscataway, Nacotchtank and Pomonkey land), and presently live and work just outside DC, in Alexandria, VA (Doeg, Powhatan, Nacotchtank, Pomonkey and Piscataway land). My current creative inspirations include gardening, watching Wang Kar-Wai films, and making paper art!