Chaya Arabia

Chaya is a museum exhibition developer and designer based in Los Angeles. She holds an MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design from the University of the Arts and a BA in Biology with a minor in Neuroscience from Lewis & Clark College.

She has a wide variety of experience in museums spanning education, curatorial, and design at institutions such as the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and the National Building Museum.

Most recently, she worked at the Mercer Museum, where she designed and prototyped multi-sensory and immersive experiences with visitors. Chaya is the recipient of awards such as the 2021 Social Advocates Award by the National Emerging Museum Professional Network, the 2022 Annual Meeting Award by the American Alliance of Museums, and the UArts 2021 Service to the Museum Field Award for her MFA thesis, titled Design to Disrupt: Framing Exhibition Designers as Catalysts for Change.

Her thesis argues the need for exhibition designers to be active agents in disrupting the reproduction of white supremacy culture in the process of creating exhibitions. Currently, Chaya is pursuing a year-long Graduate Internship in the Design Department at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. She is looking forward to continuing her work at the Getty to further develop her design practice from equity and justice lenses.

You can find out more about Chaya and her work on www.chayaarabia.com

MuseumNext Next Generation Summit
Monday, 18th July 2022

Prescribed Burns: Disruption as a Prerequisite for Change

This presentation applies the lens of ecology to collectively reimagine museums and their impact. It argues that disruption of the status quo is necessary to create a bridge between how things have been done and a future state that we collectively are still defining. It offers reflections on what we as a field must let go of and what we must work towards in order to sow a new landscape for museums.

Full Schedule Here