Kezia Permata

Biography

Kezia’s role as Educator & Programme Coordinator sees her guiding visitors on tours and sharing knowledge of the museum as well as managing a small team of educators. This is her first role after completing her studies and is currently building her career by starting as an educator, getting to know how the museum works from the inside, and trying to pitch new ideas when opportunities arise. The newest tour area in the museum focuses on educating the younger generation on history, and Kezia is always looking for creative ways to deliver historical stories to visitors. Kezia is preparing to study further to pursue her interest museum education.

Kezia studied for an MA in History of Art and Archaeology at SOAS, University of London following a BA in Javanese Literature. During this time in London, she developed a further interest in museums and exhibitions and has a longstanding interest in manuscripts, particularly Javanese and Balinese. Studying manuscripts made Kezia realise how important it is for people to access what was written upon them, which led to work on transliterating and translating in Indonesia. Kezia is interested in making history accessible to all and how constructing a narrative and display can make objects easier to understand.

Kezia’s dream for museums of the future is, particularly in Indonesia, for museums to receive more attention from the government in terms of financial support, and for museums to become more aware of what their visitors need. Instead of just trying to make people come in, she thinks it is more important that people leave with the satisfaction of learning something new and be excited to learn more.

At the British Museum
During Kezia’s time on the International Training Programme she spent time in whole group sessions for a detailed overview of all aspects of the Museum’s work, both front of house and behind the scenes. She also attended a range of subject specialist sessions, tailored sessions, chosen to reflect her professional interests, role profile and current projects and programmes. Kezia spent her partner placement at Norfolk Museums Service.

Kezia worked with the ITP 2022 participants to develop a 15-object trail based on a story they wanted to share based around the British Museum collection. The theme of the trail was Food and drink and Kezia’s chosen object was a shell ladle from Java.

Kezia’s place on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.