Andrea Terrón Gomez
MONOVA: Museum & Archives of North Vancouver
Curator
Country: Guatemala
ITP Year: 2017
Biography
Andrea is a passionate and dedicated anthropologist, curator, and museum specialist with a master’s degree in Social Sciences from Osaka University. Over the past two decades, she has collaborated with a range of cultural institutions, bringing depth, care, and a global perspective to her work.
Most recently, Andrea served as Head of Gallery and Exhibitions at the Bateman Foundation in Victoria, BC. Before that, she held key positions at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Popol Vuh Museum in Guatemala; institutions renowned for their extensive collections of Maya cultural belongings.
Her leadership extends beyond the museum floor. Andrea was Vice-President of both the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Guatemala and the National Museum Association (AMG). She was also a British Museum Fellow in 2017 and a Senior Fellow in 2018 through the International Training Programme (ITP). Currently, Andrea is the Permanent Curator at MONOVA: Museum & Archives of North Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada.
The evolving definition of what a museum can and should be continues to inspire her research and professional focus. Working within a community museum setting, she is deeply committed to decolonizing collections, supporting the return of cultural belongings, reimagining exhibition design, and integrating inclusive practices in collection management.
Andrea envisions museums of the future as spaces for everyone—accessible, participatory, and rooted in genuine relationships between people and the collections that represent them. She dreams of museums as places of ideas and dialogue, where culture, heritage, and shared humanity are explored in a spirit of truth, reflection, and acceptance of the past.
Recently, Andrea had the following article published:
At the British Museum
During her time on the International Training Programme 2017, Andrea was based in the Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas and spent her partner placement with Norfolk Museums Service.
In 2017 participants were asked to develop a proposal for an Asahi Shimbun Display – a temporary exhibition in Room 3 at the British Museum – based around a ‘spotlight’ object. Andrea worked with fellow Raneen Kiresh (Palestine) on her exhibition proposal project, entitled Red and Blue: The Evil Eye across Borders.
Andrea’s participation on the International Training Programme was generously supported by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust.
Legacy Projects
Andrea was the Senior Fellow for the 2018 summer programme. She supported the ITP team in the build up to, during and after the Summer Programme, attended by 23 museum professionals from 17 countries. Following on from this Andrea also took on the role of guest editor of the 2019 ITP newsletter.
In 2022 Andrea participated in the ITP+ Leadership Training and Museums Association Conference held in Edinburgh. Part of this week, with fellows from Armenia, Egypt, India, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda and Uzbekistan, Andrea attended a programme structured around the 3-day MA Conference exploring how museums can create better places to live and work.
Andrea is also a member of the ITP Advisory Board.
ITP Newsletter Publications
ITP Newsletter Issue 6 (2019), Connectivity in the 21st century: making collections accessible, Contextualising Guatemala’s archaeological past
ITP Newsletter Issue 6 (2019), Global perspectives: Museums in the modern, digital world
ITP Newsletter 9 (2022), Process, Development and Results Robert Bateman: Heart & Home
ITP Newsletter 12 (2025), Echoes of Memory: Embracing Aging and Connection