Gema Alava (b. 1973 Madrid, Spain) is a multidisciplinary artist, lecturer and writer based in New York City since 2001. In 2012 she was appointed Cultural Adviser to the World Council of Peoples for the United Nations.

She has worked for over a decade at the Education Departments of the museums MoMA -The Museum of Modern Art-, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and Morgan Library & Museum in New York City, where she leads talks for different audiences.

Álava has studied at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain (BFA Painting, MA Education); The Chelsea College of Art and Design, The London Institute, England (BFA Erasmus Fellow); The San Francisco Art Institute, USA (MFA, New Genres); Academy of Art University, USA (MFA, Painting); MIT, Vienna, Austria (Postgraduate Bootcamp Program); and YALE School of Management (Women’s Leadership Program).