In addition to his curatorial work, Matla founded the Visiting Artist Lecture & Project (VALP) program and the Video in The Atrium (ViTA) program. Established in 2015, VALP brings emerging and mid-career artists from a wide range of backgrounds to UMD, fostering collaboration with the Art Gallery, students, faculty, and the surrounding community. ViTA, launched in fall 2022, transforms an underutilized section of the Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building’s atrium into a dynamic space for video art, expanding the gallery’s presence beyond traditional exhibition settings. In January 2025, under Matla’s leadership, the Art Gallery completed a new Visitor Lounge and Multipurpose Space, providing a much-needed gathering place for discussion, engagement, and reflection on art. 

 

Matla is a Research Affiliate with Harvard University’s Galileo Project. Before joining the University of Maryland, he worked in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and in Communications and Corporate Relations at The J. Paul Getty Trust. A native of Los Angeles, California, Matla holds a B.F.A. in Printmaking from California State University, Long Beach, and an M.A. in Aesthetics and Politics from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).