Josh Yiu

Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

ICOM No. 7253

Nominators: Gustavo Ortiz (Colombia), Margarita Guzmán (Colombia)

Biographical note

Josh Yiu is the Director of the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), with academic roots at the University of Chicago and Oxford. He previously served as the Chinese Art curator at the Seattle Art Museum. At CUHK, he presented the university’s collection internationally, expanded the museum with a new wing, and led the museum to win the ICOM-UMAC Award and Positive Workplace Service Award. He also serves as an advisor to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, a mentor in the Hong Kong NGO Governance Programme, and a professor of Zhejiang University. Link to CV.

Qualifications for the position

I am genuinely interested to serve UMAC, and I believe that the Art Museum of CUHK, which I direct, can provide institutional assistance to UMAC on various fronts, including communication & media, supervision of working groups, and logistical support of networks and events. As a UMAC member since 2019, I would be keen to meet fellow members, especially those aspiring to grow their museum collections and footprint. My experiences may be relevant to them. Having worked in art museums for two decades, I have contributed to the growth of two museums in different capacities. As a curator of a mid-large municipal museum (Seattle Art Museum), I have expanded the collection under my custodianship, represented the museum in the Getty OSCI project (a special initiative for a cohort of 8 select museums worldwide), and helped to raise the seed grant from the city for the museum’s major renovation. As the director of the museum that I currently serve, I have conceived and completed the museum expansion and more than doubled the headcounts while growing the endowments, collections, exhibition/educational programs, and institutional partnerships. As a result, the University upgraded the Museum from being a research unit to a university department reporting directly to the Provost. In the process I have resolved conflicts among stakeholders and built rapport with them. Having also made my fair share of mistakes, I believe that my experiences (both good and bad) may be of interest and relevance to regular or board members alike. Indeed, I shared some of the lessons in the UMAC conferences in Kyoto and Sydney. By the same token, I am eager to learn from fellow members about challenges that they have overcome and initiatives that they have spearheaded. I trust that an interest to learn about others will enable me to communicate and connect with both regular/board members effectively, thereby contributing to the smooth operations of UMAC.

Main goals of candidacy

My three main goals are:

To Facilitate partnerships among UMAC members in order to help UMAC to become a driver of pilot projects, in addition to being a platform. It will be my honor and pleasure to facilitate partnerships among UMAC members.
To help raise the profile of UMAC within ICOM and among universities. It is important to remind our peers and stakeholders that some of the oldest and best museums began with (and remained as) university collections. Hence, university museum is not just a type of museum, but rather the roots and essential manifestation of the very idea of a museum.

To familiarize myself with the operations of UMAC, so that CUHK may serve as a good host for a future UMAC conference. After the CUHK Art Museum earned the UMAC Award in 2022, we volunteered to host the UMAC conference in 2027. An opportunity to observe and help with the planning of the 2026 conference will enable us to plan the meaningful and productive program for the following year.