Christina Yang (PS PhD '25), Photo credit: Jessica Smolinski
The AAMC & AAMC Foundation Board of Trustees announced that curator, educator, and arts leader Christina Yang (PS PhD '25) has been appointed as its next Executive Director. An advocate for equitable access, new curatorial practices, and the social and civic roles of museums today, Yang brings nearly three decades of experience as a curator and program director working independently and across such institutions as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives. “With commitment to institution-building and professional mentorship, Christina brings multifaceted experience that will expand AAMC’s impact and support of nonprofit curators throughout the field,” stated Michelle Jacques, President of the AAMC & AAMC Foundation Board of Trustees. “The search committee was impressed by Christina’s collaborative spirit and perspective, which will serve to advance both our institutional goals and administrative operations. On behalf of the entire Board of Trustees, I am thrilled to welcome Christina as our next Executive Director.”
A specialist in global contemporary art with a focus on the Asian diaspora, social practice, performance, and experimental genres, Yang is currently working as an independent curator, writer, and educator. As a regular contributor to the Brooklyn Rail’s New Social Environment series, she has interviewed Christine Sun Kim, Kenneth Tam, and Erin Shirreff as well as moderated curatorial conversations on Ruth Azawa: Through Line (Whitney/DeMenil), Toshiko Takaezu (Noguchi), and Dirty & Disorderly: Contemporary Artists on Disgust (MassMoCa).
Yang previously held leadership roles in both museum curatorial and education departments, most recently serving as Chief Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, where she oversaw departmental initiatives, acquisitions, exhibitions, and publications, and as Deputy Director for Engagement at the Williams College Museum of Art, where she spearheaded innovative academic programs keyed to the museum’s encyclopedic collection as well as civic-minded artist projects especially during its closure marked by the COVID pandemic. At the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, she led Public Programs for over a decade from 2005 through 2019, curating interdisciplinary global projects and advancing socially engaged art practices through the Guggenheim UBS Global Art Initiative and Guggenheim Social Practice. Her early career was shaped by curatorial work at The Kitchen and the Queens Museum of Art, where she honed a commitment to experimental collaboration, multi-centered histories of art, and a commitment to the civic role of museums.
Throughout her career, Yang has actively mentored emerging museum professionals focusing on students of color. She teaches in the School of Visual Arts Masters Program in Curatorial Practice and has served as an adjunct lecturer/recitation leader at Bennington College, New York University, California College of Arts and Crafts, and Long Island University.
Yang participated in the Asia Art Archive in America’s 2024-25 Leadership Camp led by Simon Wu and Daniel Chew, and has served on the Board of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries as well as of Women & Performance, a journal of feminist theory where she filled the role of performance reviews editor from 2017-20. She is a Curatorial Ambassador for the new biannual Arrival Art Fair in North Adams, Massachusetts, opening in June 2025 and since 2019, she has been a longtime Host Committee Member of the International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York. In addition to her Ph.D. in Performance Studies from NYU, she holds an MA from the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art, as well as BA in history and art history at the University of California, Berkeley.