Jen Benoit-Bryan, Ph.D. is the Director of SMU DataArts, a leading research center for arts and culture. Jen assumed the director role in 2024 after serving as the organization’s research director. During her time at SMU DataArts, she’s worked on wide-ranging multi-year projects including an NEA-funded exploration of the role of workforce inclusion with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural affairs, the Museums Moving Forward research on equity and organizational culture, and a project in the state of Washington connecting the provision of arts and culture within a neighborhood with that community’s health, economic, and social cohesion outcomes. As an expert in statistical social research in the arts, she serves on advisory boards and grant review panels for the NEA and IMLS.
Exploring Arts Vibrancy in Massachusetts: Strengths and Opportunities
A new report and map produced by SMU DataArts for the Barr Foundation documents high levels of arts vibrancy across the state of Massachusetts and prompts an important conversation about who is included in arts datasets.
MA Residents Deeply Value the Arts and Hope for Change
Post Covid-19 pandemic and America’s overdue racial reckoning, what do communities and audiences want from the arts and cultural organizations?