Jama Best has been Executive Director of Arkansas Humanities Council since April 2018 and first joined the council in March 2003 as Program Officer, and then became Senior Program Officer. For the Council, she has led the REACH (Raising Education Achievement and Competence in the Humanities) Grant, Access to the Humanities Grant, Black History and Culture Grant, Access to the Humanities Grant, and Museum Collections and Resource Grant. In 2020, Best was nominated for Arkansas Business’ Nonprofit Executive of the Year. She has served as President of the Arkansas Museums Association and received the Best with the Peg Newton Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from that association.
