The Janklow Arts Leadership Program continues to push boundaries, academically and geographically, as evidenced by its incoming class.

Zoe Jingrui Zhang G’15 is one of three new master’s students from China. The other is Fan Wang G’15. (See “Janklow Student to Use Arts Leadership to ‘Connect Cultures.’”)

Zhang found out about the Janklow Program while working as a production assistant at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. It was there, in the famous oval structure (dubbed “The Giant Egg”), that she saw, firsthand, the plight of many Chinese performing artists, who often deal with censorship and government controls.

This experience compelled Zhang to apply for the Janklow Program, housed in the Department of Art and Music Histories.

“My long-term goal is to open an arts studio in Beijing, combining different forms of media,” she says. “I want to produce work that inspires my community.”

Zhang earned a bachelor’s degree in management from Renmin University in Beijing. She thinks the Janklow Program, which is rooted in the core values of arts administration and social entrepreneurship, will help her achieve her professional goals.

“The Janklow Program offers courses in a variety of subjects—from entrepreneurship, to public relations, to new technologies,” says Zhang, who has sung in choir as a skilled coloratura soprano most of her life, beginning her training at four years old. “The focus is not just on managing an arts enterprise, but on making the arts a vital part of one’s community, culturally, economically, and so forth.”

Zhang traces her work ethic to her mother, whose recent hard-won battle against cancer has been inspiring. Her mother’s illness has served as a potent reminder of the fragility of life and of the importance of making time for what counts—in Zhang’s case, family, music, and yoga.

“I have a work hard-aim high attitude that I’ve gotten from my mother,” she says. “I know I can do anything with the right attitude.”