[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Vivian-Zavataro-photo-by-Kacy-Meinecke.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Riverside Art Museum (RAM) in California has named Vivian Zavataro as its next executive director. She will begin in the role on October 1.<\/p>\n
\n\tZavataro succeeds Drew Oberjuerge, who served in the top job for more than 13 years and left in June 2025. \u201cThe Riverside Art Museum has grown from a beloved community museum into a dynamic cultural institution with an international presence,\u201d RAM board president Patricia Reynolds said in a statement. \u201cI am incredibly proud of the vision, commitment, and collaboration that have brought us to this moment, and excited about what lies ahead with Vivian as our new director.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAs director of RAM, Zavataro will also oversee the artistic direction of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Arts and Culture, which Oberjuerge spearheaded. Maria Esther Fern\u00e1ndez departed her role as the inaugural artistic director of the Cheech in August 2025. A release notes that Zavataro will continue the Cheech\u2019s approach of having guest curators organize its temporary exhibitions.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cRiverside Art Museum has come a long way, and The Cheech has become a big part of that story,\u201d Cheech Marin, whose collection forms the basis of the Cheech, said in a statement. \u201cBut the best part is that we\u2019re still building. Vivian understands artists, she understands museums, and she understands the importance of bringing people together. I\u2019m looking forward to having her on board and seeing what the next chapter looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tZavataro is currently the executive and creative director of the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University in Kansas. She previously served as executive director and chief curator of the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno.<\/p>\n
\n\tHer curatorial credits include exhibitions for Justin Favela and Guillermo Bert, as well as projects with Guillermo G\u00f3mez-Pe\u00f1a, Kiara Aileen Machado, and Edi Rama. At the Lilly Museum, she also organized the 2021\u201322 exhibition \u201cEn Medio | Senses of Migration.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tZavataro is also a PhD candidate at the University of Reading in England, with a dissertation focused on museum audience engagement. She holds master\u2019s degrees in museum studies from the University of Amsterdam and in curating from Zurich University of the Arts.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI am honored to join the Riverside Art Museum at such a pivotal moment,\u201d Zavataro said in a statement. \u201cThese are places where art, community, and culture meet in ways that feel urgent and alive. I look forward to working alongside the team, board, artists, guest curators, and the broader Riverside and Inland Empire communities to expand this organization\u2019s impact and make sure its programs reflect and celebrate the people it serves.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/riverside-art-museum-vivian-zavataro-executive-director-1234796074\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Vivian-Zavataro-photo-by-Kacy-Meinecke.jpg?w=1024″] The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) in California has named Vivian Zavataro as its next executive director. She will begin in the role on October 1. Zavataro succeeds Drew Oberjuerge, who served in the top job for more than 13 years and left in June 2025. \u201cThe Riverside Art Museum has grown from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2115645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2115645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2115645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2115645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2115645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}