About

Davida Persaud has a Ph.D. from the World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department at UCLA. Her research examines community-based methodologies in art and museum education. She is particularly interested in how the arts can advance movements for social justice and empower minority and immigrant communities.

Research Interests

Museum Studies, Art Education, Arts Activism, Community Cultural Development, Community Engagement, Identity Politics, Postcolonialism.

Education

Davida holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Comparative Literary Studies with a minor in Critical Theory and Social Justice from Occidental College (Class of 2012). Before beginning her graduate studies at UCLA, Davida worked at the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) as a public art administrator and grant writer, and the Skirball Cultural Center as the School Programs Coordinator. She was awarded a 2015 California Association of Museums (CAM) Fellowship, which supported her in writing a case study published by CAM e-News: “A Model for Meaningful, Community-Centered Engagement.” Davida is an alumna of the Getty Leadership Institute (GLI) NextGen Now Program (Class of 2015). In addition to her graduate research, Davida currently works as the Arts Education Coordinator for K-12 programs at SPARC.