Ted Berger is Executive Director Emeritus of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) where he began in 1973 as the country's first statewide Artists-in-Schools Coordinator, becoming NYFA's Executive Director in 1980 until retiring in 2005. Ted has been involved in helping to create many national and local initiatives, including such efforts as ArtsConnection, Studio in a School, the NYC CETA Artists Project, the Montauk and Orcas Conference for Support for Individual Artists, ArtsWire, the National Campaign for Freedom of Expression, the Urban Artist Initiative/NYC, NYCreates, and the New York City Arts Recovery Fund after 9/11. 

He has been a vocal advocate for artists and arts organizations, speaking out on issues such as the importance of arts funding, the need for arts education and life-long learning in the arts, the needs of individual artists, and responsibilities and responsiveness to equity, diversity, and inclusion matters. In his work with the development of numerous arts and cultural  and advocacy organizations, Ted often focuses on the centrality of living artists to the arts and society.  

He is a Trustee Emeritus of the Joan Mitchell Foundation where he also served as Treasurer and was involved in the planning and development of the Joan Mitchell Center, the Foundation's Artist Residency Program in New Orleans. He presently consults throughout the country and has served on numerous boards and committees, including: ArtsConnection, Association of Hispanic Arts, the Asian American Arts Alliance, Center for West Park, CUE Art Foundation, Design Trust for Public Space, HB Studio and Playwrights' Foundation, the International Studio and Curatorial Program, the National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness and Emergency Response (NCAPER),  and the New York City Arts Coalition which evolved into New Yorkers for Culture and Arts (NY4CA).  He was appointed to the Think Tank for the development of current Creatives Rebuild New York, a new initiative spearheaded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation.