Beatrice Leanza is a cultural strategist, museum director, curator and critic with a background in design and arts in Asia and beyond, born in 1978 in Milan, Italy. Beatrice earned a Master's degree in Asian Studies from Ca' Foscari University, Venice, specializing in contemporary Chinese art, and spent seventeen years in Beijing shaping the Chinese creative scene.
Leanza served as Executive Director of MAAT, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Lisbon), Director of Mudac, Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (Lausanne), and Creative Director of Beijing Design Week, where she launched the urban regeneration program Baitasi Remade. She also co-founded The Global School, China's first independent institute for design and creative practice.
Her international projects include Across Chinese Cities at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2014, 2016, 2018) and Visual Natures at MAAT (2020-2022). She is a Young European Leader since 2018 and sits on the advisory board of Design Trust (Hong Kong).
Her book The New Design Museum (Park Books, 2025) explores emerging institutional practices in design and architecture that address the challenges of the 21st century.
