The establishment of local museums and galleries should first and foremost cater to the needs of local communities and stakeholders. Though tourism is important for cash flow for sustaining programs, museums and galleries must serve as caretaker of local cultural heritage and provide curatorial programming to encourage local participation. In this paper, we show how anthropology in collaboration with the recent Bicol Archaeological Project (BAP) has been pivotal in enabling us to characterize and reconfigure museum practice at the Museo de Isarog, Partido State University, Camarines Sur, Philippines. Working with the BAP enabled research programming that paved the way for conversations on the dynamism of “indigenous/local responses to colonialism”, thus, providing a space for incorporation of local stories in the development of museum narratives. The BAP partnership provides direction that highlights local narratives by prioritizing community engagement with stakeholders and local communities on our exhibitions. Here, we present some of the key aspects in the transformation of the Museo de Isarog from a museum exhibiting general collections, either donated or loaned by students and alumni, to a museum program of local partnership engaged in co-creation and co-curation.