Jacqueline Z. Davis | Change Agent

JACQUELINE Z. DAVIS has guided, launched, and enlivened arts organizations, large and small, throughout her long and distinguished career.  Ms. Davis is committed to supporting the work of artists and arts administrators, both established and emerging, and using the arts to strengthen communities and cross-culture dialogue.   

Davis has worked as a consultant for a variety of large and small organizations all over the world, from Muscat, Oman to Salina, Kansas. She has created and facilitated collaborative projects involving a diverse array of arts institutions, including the GRAMMY Museum, Jerome Robbins Foundation, Sesame Workshop, Culture Ireland, the O’Neill Theater Center, the Society of London Theatre, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Jacqueline Z. Davis has served as Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center since September, 2000. During her exemplary tenure, Ms. Davis has been responsible for the Music, Dance, Theatre, and Recorded Sound research divisions, the complementary circulating library collection, fundraising, marketing, administration, and programming. She has overseen exhibitions in the Center's three galleries and more than 200 public programs annually, including performances and educational programs. She has been successful in raising the visibility of the Performing Arts Library and its services on a local, national and global level. She has overseen a staff of more than 90 individuals and has been a major force in fundraising for the organization.

Before joining the Library for the Performing Arts, Ms. Davis was Director of the Lied Center of Kansas at the University of Kansas, serving a dual role of Artistic Producer and Executive Director. Prior to her activities in the artistic sector, Ms. Davis served as a staff assistant in the office of Senator Edward Kennedy. Ms. Davis currently serves on the Boards of several arts organizations and has received a number of awards including the Global Interdependence Prize for her work in engendering communication across cultures through the performing arts. In May 2012, she became a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School's Executive Leadership Program. In 2019, Ms. Davis Received the Patrick Hayes Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts described as a visionary leader in the performing arts field who has inspired new ideas and initiatives across the globe.

She has served on the boards of International Society for the Performing Arts, Association of Performing Arts Presenters (National President), Dance/USA Advisory Committee, Dance/NYC, Chamber Music America, American Theatre Wing Advisory Committee, and EMCArts. She has developed partnerships in New York to explore themes important to patrons and artists alike. For example, she coordinated a group of 23 partners to celebrate the performing arts’ role in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. She also guided a New York City wide, multi-organization commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rebellion in Ireland. She has been an essential leader in the Global Interdependence movement, assisting in producing conferences in New York City, Dublin, Berlin, Istanbul, Brussels, and Mexico City.