Ma. Yohana Frias

Biography

Yohana Frias is a museum professional with 10 years of experience at the National Museum of the Philippines. With a BA in Behavioural Sciences from the University of the Philippines, Yohana began her career as a museum researcher in the Ethnology Division – where she conducted research on tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and implemented visual anthropology exhibitions and film programmes. After five years, Yohana transitioned to the Exhibitions, Editorial, and Media Productions Services Division – broadening her expertise. As part of the curatorial team, Yohana experienced working in the entire exhibition process, including conceptualisation and planning, field and archival research, collections management, logistics, exhibition design, media production, installation, and educational programming. As of 2025, Yohana has made significant contributions to 42 exhibitions – encompassing permanent galleries, temporary displays, and both local and international travelling exhibitions at the National Museum of the Philippines.

As an active member of the museum community, Yohana is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and a fellow of the British Museum International Training Programme. Through the ITP, Yohana has travelled throughout the United Kingdom and Europe for training, conferences, and museum benchmarking. Yohana disseminates her learning through regular talks and workshops for the general public, universities, cultural organisations, and both local and international museums.

In 2024, through a scholarship of the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, Yohana graduated as a Master of Arts in Heritage and Exhibition Design at the Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland with a distinction and the university medal – an honour for graduating at the top of her class. Yohana’s dissertation examined how specific design elements in the National Museum of Scotland impacted visitor impression and engagement, applying behavioural science principles to enhance museum experiences. Yohana is now back with the National Museum of the Philippines, and has been involved in the following recent projects:

• Paghabul sa Antique, Textile Gallery in Antique.
• Encuentros: Tracing Philippine Spanish Relations, NMP Baler.
• Aklan Piña Handloom Weaving, Philippine Embassy, Rome, Italy.

Yohana’s dream for museum of the future is for museums to do away with academic style of writing in exhibition texts. She hopes this will help to make more inclusive, accessible, and engaging museums.

At the British Museum
During her time on the International Training Programme, Yohana was based in the Asia Department, and spent her partner placement at Norfolk Museums Service.

In 2018 participants were asked to plan and propose a temporary exhibition, drawing on their existing museum experience and the skills learnt during the programme. Yohana worked with Sarah Abdolattif Elsheekh (Sudan) on her Object in focus project, Hunt Krater: A Journey of Culture.

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

Legacy Projects
In 2020, Yohana attended the International Training Programme’s series of online subject specialist sessions. Yohana attended:

The Samarkand Half Marathon, cultural accessibility and ‘going digital’ during COVID-19 Skill-Sharing Workshop: Interpretation and Label Writing

Go mMAD {Make Museums Accessible Digitally}

Outreach at Glasgow Museums – what now?

Egyptology in Lockdown: Connecting collections with isolated people

In 2022, Yohana delivered an Online Subject Specialist Session on the Behind-the-Scenes of Exhibitions at the National Museum of the Philippines both for the ITP global network and for colleagues at Norfolk Museums Service (her UK Partner placement).  Later that year, she also participated in the ITP+ Leadership Training and Museums Association Conference held in Edinburgh. As part of this week, with fellows from Armenia, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Romania, Rwanda and Uzbekistan, Yohana attended a programme structured around the 3-day MA Conference exploring how museums can create better places to live and work.

In 2024, Yohana was awarded an ITP Conference Grant to take part in the 2024 ICOM UK Conference.  The conference focused on Common Ground: the role of museums in divided communities and was held in Belfast from 11 – 13 April.