Meet Zida Wang (王子达) and learn the impact of his transformative educational initiatives, co-curation projects, and community-driven exhibitions in the arts management field. Zida is an Arts Management M.A. alumni '17 who holds a PhD in Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation from Florida State University.
Zida is a researcher, author, educator, edu-curator, and community facilitator. Currently, he works as the Manager of Community Engagement and Outreach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, and teaches museum studies and education. Previously, Zida served as the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts as Museum Educator, the Curatorial Supervisor of the 13th National Exhibition of Fine Arts, Experimental Arts Division Exhibition in China.
A standard workday for Zida involves being; in community engagement events, reviewing project proposals, and engaging directly with community partners. Through all those tasks, Zida tries his best to balance administrative duties with his academic responsibilities. A normal week for Zida also consists of researching participatory action research and creating inclusive, hybrid museum experiences. For his career, Zida is determined in furthering cultural exchange and accessibility, and teaching museum studies, art museum administration, digital and hybrid co-curation.
With an extensive range of experiences, Zida has been internationally and nationally recognized for his research on museum practices and has received many awards. Some awards include the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Scholarship from the National Art Education Association and the Emerging Scholar Award from the Inclusive Museum Research Network. Moreover, Zida has published journal articles in The International Journey of the Inclusive Museum and book chapters with Rowman Littlefield Publishing Group. An upcoming book that Zida is collaborating on is Creating Digital Exhibitions: A Practical Guide, soon to be published in March 2026 by Bloomsbury.
When asked what an Arts Manager does, Zida replies, "The arts manager bridges arts and the public effectively. Throughout operations, programming, fundraising, community engagement, and other events, the arts manager makes arts accessible and impactful."
Why did you decide to study arts management and how did the program help you with your first job?
Zida: During my undergraduate years in China, I started my interest in how arts museums operate and connect with the public, especially how art museums serve the public and connect with the local authorities. I saw myself in arts management as a way to bridge my passion for the arts with organizational strategy and public impact. After graduation, I first worked at LACMA and then I worked as the Curatorial Supervisor of the 13th National Exhibition of Fine Arts, my journey at Mason AMGT has helped me establish the first stage understanding of what modern small-mid sized university-affiliated museums are missing in museum education and public programming.
What projects, research, or work are you involved with in your current role(s)?
Museum of Art.
Zida: Currently, at the UNLV Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, we have Living Here, an exhibition and oral history project exploring Asian American diaspora, it is the first ever Asian American focused exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada. I am also co-editing Creating Digital Exhibitions: A Practical Guide, a forthcoming book on the theory and practice of digital exhibitions, which will be published by Bloomsbury Publisher in March 2026. My most current research examines how university-affiliated museums navigate their community engagement and cultural policy during the challenging time. Starting from interviews, now I’m draft survey and will spread out through the AMGT community. At UNLV, I’m helping develop a micro credential program in Museum Studies to provide accessible, practice-based training in education, curation, and community outreach.
What keeps you passionate about the arts and arts management?
Zida: First, I value the power of research and teaching in museum education, edu-curation, and arts administration. These fields allow me to bridge the academic world with real-life community engagement issues. Second, throughout the practical experiences and academic research, I acknowledge the gaps and systematical restraints in the nowadays museum sector. I stay passionate because I see how the arts can connect and empower the public, how arts management professionals could create sustainable systems for cultural participation.
What is something you wish you had known when you first started the program?
Zida: Great question! It’d be very helpful for incoming students! To me, I wish I had known more about the diverse essence of different research areas inside the arts management. For example, the differences and similarities among cultural participation, arts and cultural community engagement, cultural diplomacy, and cultural propaganda, etc. And how each connects to different professional pathways could be a great pinpoint for students to learn. Building the understanding of these distinctions earlier would have helped me refine my focus and research sooner and recognize how theory, research, and practice intersect in shaping effective arts leadership.
As an alumni of different Arts Management programs, you are very involved in museum education and curation, what drew you to a career in Museum Community Engagement and Outreach?
Zida: My current position is university-affiliated, which allows me to bridge the academic research with community-based museum practice. I have my PhD in Museum Education and Visitor-Centered Curation and my MA in Arts Management, I see it as both a responsibility and a privilege to share my knowledge with students and help facilitate their learning through real-world museum practices, like co-curation exhibitions, journal article writing opportunities, workshop opportunities, and education programs, etc.
As a constructivist, I believe everyone contributes to the museum’s informal learning opportunities with their previous knowledge, and everyone works as the facilitators in this learning, we will collaboratively construct new knowledge and understandings together. For example, one of my research integrates the Third Place Theory, Constructivist Museum, and Participatory Action Research framework, and I developed a hybrid co-curation model that envisioned the museum as a creative, inclusive third place for engagement and collaboration. Community engagement is an ideal start for me to realize this model, from theory to practice. And the UNLV as a higher education institution, it has massive resources and its diverse student body allows me to work and create new programs here too.