Vivian Zavataro Named Executive Director of Riverside Art Museum

The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) has appointed museum leader and curator Vivian Zavataro as its next Executive Director. She will begin the role on 1 October 2026.

Zavataro joins the Riverside, California institution from the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University, where she currently serves as Executive and Creative Director. In this role, she leads the museum’s strategic, operational and creative direction and oversees a permanent collection of more than 7,000 objects.

Previously, Zavataro was Executive Director and Chief Curator of the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her curatorial projects include Everything Must Go: Justin Favela’s Closeout Blowout Re-Grand Opening at the Ulrich Museum of Art, Guillermo Bert: The Journey at the Nevada Museum of Art and En Medio | Senses of Migration at the Lilley Museum of Art.

Her work centres on community engagement and the role museums can play as welcoming, relevant and accountable civic institutions.

Zavataro holds an MA in Heritage and Museum Studies from the University of Amsterdam and a Master of Advanced Studies in Curating from Zurich University of the Arts. She is also a PhD candidate at the University of Reading, where her research focuses on museum audience engagement.

At RAM, she will lead the institution across its two locations: its historic Julia Morgan building and The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture. The Cheech will continue its established model of collaborating with guest curators on exhibitions exploring Chicano art and culture.