麻豆传媒映画

When 9-year-old Maya Davis from Fayetteville, Arkansas, first visited Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in nearby Bentonville, she knew from that moment the career that was meant for her.

Davis has been chasing that dream ever since, fueled by her passion for appreciating art and wanting to give others that same sense of appreciation.

鈥淚 knew in some way I would be working in an art museum and that that was the type of work that felt aligned with me,鈥� Davis said.

After graduating from 麻豆传媒映画鈥檚 in 2024 with a Bachelor鈥檚 in art history, Davis began a competitive and prestigious at the Studio Museum in Harlem and the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

鈥淢aya is an exceptionally friendly, motivated, and intellectually inquisitive person whose enthusiasm for art history and curatorial practice is exceptional,鈥� said assistant professor Gillian Sneed, Davis鈥檚 mentor at 麻豆传媒映画. 鈥淪he brings a thoughtful, creative energy to every conversation, and her commitment to her professional goals is both consistent and impressive.鈥�

Davis worked at in Harlem from September 2024 to September 2025 for the first year of the two-year fellowship program. She primarily focused on site-specific installations: art pieces intended specifically for a particular space that don鈥檛 travel elsewhere. 

She then embarked on the second year of the fellowship at the New York , and has been working on an exhibition for 2027 in the Department of Drawings and Prints with Curator Esther Adler.

Long before this milestone, Davis had already begun carving out her path in curatorial work, immersing herself in the field at a remarkably young age..

Around age 13 and then again at age 16, she was a part of the Early College Program at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Davis said she appreciated how the program celebrates diversity in curatorial work and future curators, as well as offering art history college courses for credit.

Davis has also held curatorial positions at Crystal Bridges Museum, where she first fell in love with art, Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and Lorenzo de鈥橫edici Institute Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Following a dream

These experiences solidified Davis鈥檚 commitment to art history and curatorial studies, a dream that followed her into adulthood, ignited by the inspiration she found at 麻豆传媒映画.

鈥淭he people that I made great relationships with in San Diego, including my professors at 麻豆传媒映画, really helped champion me and planted roots in canonical art history and different ways of thinking about art history,鈥� Davis said.

Davis admired how her professors came from a diverse collection of places, especially as an out-of-state student herself, and said she felt immensely supported by them.

鈥淚 felt very comfortable being able to communicate my goals with [Professor Sneed], and being able to talk about my dreams of doing curatorial work in New York City,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淪he never made me feel as if I was lesser than, and she never made me feel as if it was unachievable. She helped push me, and even now, we鈥檙e still in contact and she helps me with other opportunities.鈥�

鈥淲orking with Maya as her mentor was consistently rewarding,鈥� Sneed said. 鈥淪he approached both her coursework and her broader professional development with curiosity, focus, and a striking degree of creativity.鈥�

One experience Davis said she is most proud of is her research trips in Atlanta, and Stockholm, Sweden, where she analyzed women鈥檚 reproductive health through an institutional lens. Davis met with curators, artists, historians, and professionals, and her research was centered on encouraging the visualization of reproductive history.

鈥淸In] a lot of my classes at 麻豆传媒映画, what I felt most drawn to 鈥� most seen in 鈥� was performance artists rethinking about the body, especially women's bodies,鈥� Davis said.

Another highlight for Davis was working on Studio Museum in Harlem鈥檚 exhibition of emerging artists, also called the Artist-in-Residence program.

鈥淚 loved that project. I really think it helped narrow my curatorial interests to working with living artists and championing artists that aren鈥檛 as acclaimed currently,鈥� Davis said.

Davis describes curatorial work as a 鈥渂ridge between institution and audience,鈥� a position that involves academic research, analyzing archives, and talking to many librarians and archivists.

鈥淓ducation is such a major part of museum work,鈥� Davis said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 supposed to create generative thinking, like 鈥楬ow can I translate what I just learned from this exhibition into my day-to-day life?鈥欌��.