Diya Vij was appointed as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs by Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani in February 2026. In this role, she oversees cultural funding for more than 1,000 non-profit arts and culture organizations across the five boroughs and directs cultural policy for the City of New York.

Previously, Vij served as Vice President of Curatorial and Arts Programs at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn, NY where she was brought on to increase access to affordable art making facilities to New York City artists, expand educational efforts, and launch a contemporary arts program that centers the process of making art and the ecosystem of labor that surrounds the process.

Over the past decade, she has held programming, curatorial, and communications positions at major New York City Institutions. She served as the Curator at Creative Time where she commissioned and stewarded large-scale public artwork, launched the public programming space CTHQ, re-launched the Creative Time Summit, and initiated the R&D Fellowship for socially engaged artists. As the Associate Curator of Public Programs at the High Line, she organized dozens of live events, community programs, and performances with artists working across disciplines.

Vij also previously worked at the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs from 2014-2018, during which time launched and co-directed the Public Artists in Residence (PAIR) program. Additionally, she helped lead the Agency’s citywide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative, and played an active role in public monument efforts, as well as CreateNYC—New York City’s first strategic long-term plan for culture. She was a curatorial fellow and the communications manager at the Queens Museum from 2010–2014, during the opening of the museum’s major capital renovation. She also previously served on the boards of directors of The Laundromat Project, A Blade of Grass (2022-2026), and The Poetry Project.