Joseph Gonzales is a museographer, audience-building tactician, cultural strategist, educator, and arts champion, bridge-builder, and, career development advisor with 25 years experience in the cultural sector. As an impassioned arts professional and educator, he is intent on connecting arts organizations with diverse audiences. He utilizes his experience in social science, leadership, engagement practice, public programming, content production, cultural interpretation, and instruction to develop informed and imaginative strategies for engaging with audiences. With expertise in mainstream and non-traditional arts, he collaborates with cultural arts organizations of all stripes to create thoughtful solutions for cultivating and involving stakeholders of all levels. His goal at the University of the Arts is to train and mentor 21st century museum and arts engagement professionals through the Museum Communication M.A. program.

From 2008-2011, he was the manager of research and community engagement strategies for the Fleisher Art Memorial, where he lead the organization’s institution-wide efforts to reach new immigrant and low-income audiences in South Philadelphia as part of a multi-year Wallace Foundation Excellence Award project. A full description of this work can be found in the Wallace foundation’s Staying Relevant in a Changing Neighborhood: How Fleisher Art Memorial is Adapting to Shifting Community Demographics.

His work has been featured in additional Wallace Foundation Building Audience for the Arts publications (2014, 2015), UPenn Social Impact of the Arts’ “Natural” Cultural Districts: A Three-City Study (February 2013), and sociologist, Fred Wherry’s, The Philadelphia Barrio: The Arts, Branding, and Neighborhood Transformation (2011). He has also contributed to the American Alliance of Museums’ book, A Life In Museums: Managing Your Museum Career (2012), served as a as an advisor for numerous exhibitions, public art, and audience building projects which have included the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Museums of Archaeology, Mural Arts, and Anthropology and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Museum.