{"id":157466,"date":"2026-03-09T02:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/157466\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T02:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:48:12","slug":"diya-vij-appointed-nyc-commissioner-of-the-department-of-cultural-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/157466\/","title":{"rendered":"Diya Vij appointed NYC Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani recently appointed Diya Vij as Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), the nation\u2019s largest municipal funder of culture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Diya Vij. PHOTO: hunter.cuny.edu<\/p>\n

A Feb. 25, 2026 press release from the Mayor\u2019s office said, \u201cCommissioner, Vij will deepen the City\u2019s commitment to supporting art and culture and ensure New York City is not only a place where artists can afford to live, but where art is celebrated and sustained.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vij returns to the DCLA, where she previously worked on special projects under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. During her earlier tenure, she launched and co-directed the Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) program, which embeds artists within City agencies and integrates art into civic life. Artists including Tania Bruguera, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Onyedika Chuke and Ebony Noelle Golden participated in the program.<\/p>\n

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More recently, Vij served as a curator at Creative Time, where she curated large-scale public art projects in partnership with State and City agencies, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the Parks Department and the Department of Transportation. Her most recent curation, Chlo\u00eb Bass\u2019s \u201cIf you hear something, free something,\u201d was created in partnership with the MTA and broadcast artwork over the subway public address system, transforming daily commutes into shared cultural experiences.<\/p>\n

Vij\u00a0also held leadership roles\u00a0across New York\u2019s\u00a0arts\u00a0institutions,\u00a0including as Vice President of Curatorial and Arts Programs at Powerhouse\u00a0Arts,\u00a0and in\u00a0roles\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0Queens Museum and the High Line.\u00a0Across\u00a0private\u00a0nonprofits\u00a0and city government,\u00a0she has organized\u00a0dozens\u00a0of performances and public\u00a0programs\u00a0and developed a\u00a0deep\u00a0understanding of the\u00a0city\u2019s\u00a0cultural\u00a0ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Mayor Mamtani welcomed her as a \u2018visionary and deeply thoughtful leader who understands that art is not ornamental to this city \u2014 it is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration has renewed my belief that city government can be a site of real change \u2014 and that art and culture are essential to that project,\u201d said\u00a0Commissioner Vij.\u00a0\u201cToo many artists have been forced out of the city they love \u2014 crushed by the cost-of-living crisis. As Commissioner, I will extend the Mayor\u2019s affordability agenda to arts and culture. It is an honor to help build a city where artists, cultural workers, and New Yorkers across all five boroughs can do more than get by \u2014 they can live full, vibrant and curious lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioner Vij will\u00a0report\u00a0to\u00a0Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su.<\/p>\n

Vij is the Vice President of Curatorial and Arts Programs at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn. In that role,\u00a0\u00a0she is credited with expanding access to affordable art-making facilities, strengthening educational initiatives and launching a contemporary arts program centered on artistic process and cultural labor, the press release said.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, she has held programming, curatorial and communications roles\u00a0\u00a0at major New York City Institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"– ADVERTISEMENT – New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani recently appointed Diya Vij as Commissioner of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,56,63,65,64],"class_list":{"0":"post-157466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-ny","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-nyc-headlines","12":"tag-nyc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}