Julián Roa Triana

Biography

Julián is an independent Museum Consultant and Exhibition Designer, with expertise in storytelling, sustainability, museum planning, cultural policy, and design thinking for museums. Julián sees museums as spaces for public engagement – human-centred, visionary, and inspiring – fostering more democratic societies eager to transform and improve their living conditions and evolving from one-dimensional narratives to spaces that encourage critical reflection on difficult histories.

Julián’s work has taken him around the world, working in museums and organisations in Colombia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania. He is currently based in Colombia, where his academic and field research focuses on memory, cultural heritage and politics. He has collaborated with organisations such as Cultural Heritage Without Borders and the UNESCO Chair at Universidad Externado de Colombia. He has served as an advisor on museology, sustainability, exhibition design, and museum development for the Colombian Ministry of Culture, supporting the Special Projects division of the National Museum of Colombia.

Recently, Julián worked alongside a team of curators, artists and exhibition designers in the co-creation of the Museo Panóptico de Ibagué (Colombia) and worked as a supervisor for the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Tourism on the renovation of the Museo Alcázar de Colón in Santo Domingo’s Colonial City. He is also a board member of the ICOM Regional Alliance for Latin America and the Caribbean (ICOM-LAC).

At the British Museum

During his time at the British Museum, Julián was based in Americas section of the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas and his UK partner placement was spent at Glasgow Museums.

Julián’s participation in the International Training Programme was generously supported by the de Laszlo Foundation.