Joan Jeffri is Founder and Director of the Research Center for Arts and Culture housed first at Columbia University, now at The Actors Fund. Former Director of the Program in Arts Administration at Columbia, she is past President of the Association of Arts Administration Educators and the International Arts Medicine Association. She is a Scholar-in-Residence in the Arts Management Program at American University and honorary professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Co-author with Yu Ding of Respect for Art: Visual Arts Management and Administration in China and the United States (2008); author of Arts Money: Raising It, Saving It, Earning It; (1989) and The Emerging Arts: Management, Survival and Growth (1980); editor of Artisthelp: The Artist’s Guide to Work-Related Human and Social Services (1990) and The Actor Speaks, The Painter Speaks, and The Craftsperson Speaks (1994, 1993, 1992). From 1981-1990, she served as an executive editor of The Journal of Arts Management and Law. She has conducted numerous studies including Changing the Beat: A Study of the Worklife of Jazz Musicians; Making Changes: Facilitating the Transition of Dancers to Post-Performance Careers with William Baumol and David Throsby; Information on Artists I, II and III and The Artists Training and Career Project.

Early in her career, Jeffri was a poet and protégé of Louis Untermeyer and a professional actress, appearing in the national tour of The Homecoming and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, and with Lincoln Center Repertory Company.