Yanoa Pomalima Carrasco

Biography

Yanoa is an archaeologist and museologist who has worked as a curator and museum educator in Peru, the United States, and Spain.  As a museologist, her responsibilities include curatorial work for temporary and permanent exhibitions, designing educational activities, developing interpretation content, and guiding professionals for museums’ education and curatorial departments to address their needs.

She previously worked for the Ministry of Culture in Peru, where she researched the history of the Andes and developed curatorial projects with native communities for the Inca Trail Project. Later, she worked with the General Directorate of Museums, collaborating with public museums to create virtual tours of their permanent and temporary exhibitions. In both projects, she worked with local voices to co-create meaningful narratives that highlight the stories behind their collections.

Yanoa has started a museum consulting firm to provide support for cultural projects, with a focus on accessibility and inclusion with archaeological sites in museums.

Yanoa’s museum interests include Peruvian museums and the current connection they have with ancestral cultures. Other interests are the methodologies and practices currently applied in different museums around the world on issues such as counter-narratives, technology, and educational programming as well as policies relating to sustainability.

Yanoa’s dream for museums of the future is for museums to become participatory and engagement spaces where visitors are not only spectators but become part of the institution as members of a constantly changing society whose voices reinterpret and redefine its collections.

At the British Museum
During Yanoa’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 range of subject specialist sessions and tailored sessions chosen to reflect her professional interests, role profile and current projects and programmes. Yanoa spent her partner placement at Glasgow Museums.

Yanoa 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 Yanoa’s chosen object was a Paccha (fertility vessel).

Yanoa’s place on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Aall Foundation.

Legacy projects
In November 2023 Yanoa participated in an ITP legacy project attending the Museums Association Conference held in Newcastle-Gateshead. With fellows from Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Turkey, Yanoa attended a programme structured around the 3-day MA Conference on The Power of Museums.

Yanoa returned to the British Museum in 2024 in the role of Senior Fellow. She supported the ITP team in the build up to, during and after the 2024 annual programme, attended by 20 museum professionals from 13 countries. In this position, Yanoa also took on the role of guest editor of the 2025 ITP newsletter.

Ciprian is also a member of the ITP Advisory Board.