Youyou (Ruby) Yu is a full-time visiting assistant professor in PAA from 2023 to 2025. She received her Ph.D. in Arts Theory with a concentration in Arts Management and Cultural Industries from Peking University (China). The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 drew her attention to the emerging academic field of crisis management and resilient development in the arts and culture and made it the doctoral research topic. Her dissertation "Research on the Crisis Management of Art World Based on the Perspective of Social Networks" was selected as one of the top three doctoral dissertations for the 2022 ENCATC research award.
In 2019-2020, she served as an adjunct faculty and visiting Scholar at NYU and taught two courses “Environment of Arts Administration” and “Creative and Cultural Industries” at NYU Shanghai for students in both PAA and VAA who chose to go local. So far, Ms. Yu has published over 20 papers in important Chinese academic journals and has delivered presentations at several international arts administration and cultural policy conferences around the world. Ms. Yu earned a master’s degree in Art Management and Cultural and Creative Industries from Beijing Dance Academy, where she also worked for three years as a senior teaching fellow and Chinese dance instructor in the School of Graded Examination.
In 2011, she founded her own performance company, Nanjing Art Impression PR Planning Co., Ltd. Working as a choreographer, agent, and art manager, her professional experiences in the art market inspired her to pursue academic research on cultural and arts management, especially with a focus on audience development and cultural access. All along, she has been committed to promoting art communication and engagement, audience development, and cultural access. In 2022, she was invited to deliver a series of art workshops and outreach projects in rural villages in Beijing to spread Chinese culture and arts to those who can't access them and leverage art to promote rural revitalization, cultural justice, and creative placemaking through art engagement and education.