Jennifer Joy Jameson

Jennifer Joy Jameson is a California-based cultural worker and public folklorist committed to supporting artists and communities through a practice that strives toward cultural and racial equity. She is currently the Program Manager + Media Director at the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA). 

Prior, Jenn was at the Mississippi Arts Commission where she served as the Folk and Traditional Arts Director since 2014, administering traditional arts grants, reviving and managing the digital publication Mississippi Folklife, and leading fieldwork projects related to a wide range of cultural arts practices. Jenn has also worked in digital media for SPACES Archives, a non-profit archive dedicated to documenting and advocating for the preservation of international art environments. 

Her research and curatorial areas have included rural arts, artist-built environments, the culture of tourism, personal museums and collections, and more. With an M.A. in public sector folk studies from Western Kentucky University and a B.A. in folklore and ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Jenn has worked with museums, archives, festivals, and cultural organizations on the federal, state, and local level, including positions, residencies, or projects at the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Traditional Arts Indiana, the Kentucky Folklife Program, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Highlander Center for Research and Education, and Epicenter. 

Jenn was raised in the coastal city of Encinitas, and has made Long Beach her home. She joined ACTA in March 2017, where she directs ACTA’s media efforts, manages the Apprenticeship Program, co-leads the Traditional Arts Roundtable Series in Los Angeles, coordinates technical assistance offerings to arts organizations, and supports the statewide Sounds of California archival project. In her personal life, she is active in grassroots efforts around homelessness and housing justice in Los Angeles County, and is slowly learning to quilt.