Yvette Benavides

Yvette Benavides is vice president of Benavides Studio Inc. and Benavides Picture Framing, art handling and design businesses that have served the San Antonio community since 1997. She is the owner of The 1906 art complex, and co-founder and director of S.M.A.R.T. 501c3, a nonprofit that builds community through arts education and practice with working artists. After college, she lived in Seattle and San Francisco, where she worked in business development for drugstore.com and served as director of operations for Catamount Ventures, an early seed-stage venture-capital firm. She moved to San Antonio in 2000, and first became immersed in the local contemporary arts community through her work with Artpace founder Linda Pace. Since 2008, S.M.A.R.T.’s innovative four-step process and unprecedented partnership with Briscoe Elementary has resulted in an arts-education curriculum that supports the International Baccalaureate goals of Briscoe Elementary and builds a foundation for creative expression throughout students’ lives and careers. In 2019, S.M.A.R.T. launched beMOCA, Briscoe Elementary Museum of Contemporary Art, which gives students the tools to communicate their vision through contemporary art and museum practice. With a passion for building programs and activating ideas, she looks forward to working with CAST to create engaging platforms for our next generation of young innovators. She is also a parent and sits on the Advanced Learning Academy advisory board.