JEN BENDER is a director and producer working in theater and live events. She is the Director of Programming and Artists Services for New York Musical Theatre Festival, and Associate Director of the recent Broadway musical Honeymoon in Vegas by Jason Robert Brown and Andrew Bergman. Other Broadway credits include The Lion King (Resident Director), The Wedding Singer, Steel Magnolias, and Avenue Q (Assistant Director). She spent the past three years touring North America, Asia, and Australia as the Assistant Artistic Director of Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo. From its creation in 2008, she was the Artistic Director of Broadway in South Africa, a non-profit organization that aims to develop a cross-cultural exchange between youth in need and artists who seek to use their change for good. She is also a co-founder of New Voices Collective, a concert series of art songs by contemporary American composers. A passionate supporter of new works, she directed the premieres of Like You Like it and Trails at NYMF, as well as numerous concerts and readings at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Hammerstein Ballroom, Ars Nova, Hudson Theatre, and Joe’s Pub.