Vivaldi Ngenzi

Biography

Vivaldi Ngenzi is a Rwandan museum professional and curator with eight years of experience in cultural heritage preservation, museum management, and exhibition curation. Currently serving as the Director of the Rwanda Art Museum since 2018, he has led transformative initiatives to position the museum as a dynamic platform for contemporary artistic expression and heritage education. He is also pursuing a Master’s degree in Cultural Policy and Management at the University of Arts in Belgrade, further enhancing his expertise in cultural strategy and policy development.

With a background in zoology and conservation from the National University of Rwanda, Vivaldi's career began in museum education and conservation under the Institute of National Museums of Rwanda (INMR), where he worked across four national museums from 2012 to 2017. His curatorial work is known for its focus on post-genocide cultural narratives, contemporary Rwandan identity, and artistic resilience.

He has curated numerous landmark exhibitions, including Kwibuka Through Arts (2019), Rwanda Women Artists Exhibition (2020), and Floride Mukabageni: Capturing Culture and Traditions (2022). His recent project, Nostalgie 2000’ (2024), bridges technology and music history to revisit Rwanda’s cultural rebirth in the early 2000s. He has also contributed to scholarly publications on Rwandan art, including Artist in Hard Times – Guy Karangwa and a monograph on Mukabageni.

Vivaldi is an alumnus of The MuseumsLab Fellowship (2022) and a 2023 fellow of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art. He has received multiple trainings in heritage management, tourism, and curatorial practice. Fluent in five languages, he combines academic insight, curatorial sensitivity, and managerial acumen to advocate for inclusive cultural narratives and sustainable museum practices in Rwanda and beyond.

Vivaldi Ngenzi, Director at Rwanda Art Museum - Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy in Kigali, Rwanda, has been awarded by the Saastamoinen Foundation.