About Stephanie Benenson

Stephanie Benenson (b. 1981) is guided by inquiries into social mobility, inclusivity and accessibility in the arts, and the power of exploring personal history through the medium of community storytelling. The results of which are immersive multilingual installations, augmented reality artworks, and other free, community-led public art experiences. In 2017, Stephanie started Harbor Voices, an artist-led community storytelling collective that creates public celebrations of the collective voice. Her laser and sound installations often feature over 100 global voices of ancestral and recent immigration and migration from age 6 to 86 in a many languages.

The work celebrates empathy, cultural diversity, and resilience by exploring commonalities in stories across history and connecting history to the present. She believes that Art, particularly participatory projects, has the ability to bring people together and impact the future. Through partnerships with non-profits or public schools, Harbor Voices celebrates cultural diversity, augments family and community bonds, and creates resilience in our youth participants. Through our work, participants deepen their understanding of the immigrant experience, celebrate cultural identity, experience enhanced empathy and acceptance by discovering shared experience, and gain confidence that their voices can be a vehicle for social change. Each project is a collaborative experience between artist and community voices, with at least one educator partnership in a local public school or postsecondary school.  She has worked in communities in New York, Boston, Gloucester, and Salem and has many longstanding partnerships and commissions with organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay and Pathways for Children.

INQUIRIES THROUGH OPEN FORM (BELOW)