Celebrate the 10th Intl Museum & Culture Workers Day on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.

Follow IMWD2030 on Instagram & Twitter to join the party.

For updates on our IMWD’s upcoming events, we invite you to visit International Museum Workers Day

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The world in which we live is undergoing exponential and dramatic change in every sector from economics to politics, science, technology and culture.

Centuries-old, Western-oriented, institutional frameworks in the field of heritage are being challenged by the emergence of new players, forms of competition, technological norms, and regionalism.

Even in the light of our burgeoning dependence on Artificial Intelligence, more than ever, we rely on culture to remind us that we are sentient beings, inter-connected via the massive organism called humanity. In fact, as our reliance on solutions that new technologies offer grows, we become more, and not less, dependent on human expertise, and cooperation. These deliberations, added to three decades of travels, work, studies and research in various culture fields, inspired the founding of International Museum Workers Day IMWD, in 2015.

The annual advocacy event was initiated by American museologist, artist and filmmaker Homa Taj. IMWD began as an educational project to introduce the general public to the myriad professions relating to the creation, research, discovery and presentation of heritage. The project’s original title, a somewhat light-hearted name, was “Hug A Museum Worker (HAMuseumW).”

After spending the first two years explaining that ‘hugging’ museum workers was not to be taken literally, to the relief of many heritage workers, the event was re-named International Museum Workers Day (IMWD), in 2016.

Leading up to the third IMWD on June 29, 2017, under the leadership of our Executive Director Frank J Cunningham, we personally invited tens of thousands of art, design, heritage and museum workers as well as institutions and associations, in 192 countries. The invitations were sent via email to artists, scholars, art historians, scientists, archaeologists, anthropologists, curators, filmmakers, performance artists, designers & many others whose expertise, years of experience and dedication help create, discover, preserve, and disseminate tangible and non-tangible cultural heritage, in their respective countries. The mailing list excludes all social media, but includes LinkedIn.

Consequently, heritage professionals from 150+ countries engaged with IMWD2017 – including: Bhutan, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Moldova, Chad, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Mozambique, Ghana, Cameroon, Belaize, Oman, Madagascar, Jordan, Swaziland, Botswana, Congo, Jamaica, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Benin, Vietnam, Papa New Guinea, Suriname, Brunei, Haiti, Cote d’Ivoire, Malaysia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Dominican Republic, Mali, Rwanda, Chad, Senegal, South Africa, Yemen … as well as throughout the Americas and Europe.

The following year, IMWD2018 was marked in 21 languages, across 12  platforms, with increased engagement from 20 new countries (170 countries in total) – including: Timor-Leste, Angola, Marshall Islands, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Seychelles, Djibouti, Finland, Uganda, Albania, Maldives, Dominica, Democratic Republic Congo, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Pakistan, Malta, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, & Cyprus.

In some respects, IMWD may be viewed as the “Switzerland” of heritage projects considering that we draw our strength from inclusivity, and are multi-cultural & multi-lingual. As of today, we are not affiliated with any regional, national or international institutions or alliances. Nor are we aligned with any religious or political groups. We are impartial – which does not mean neutral and thus recognize the importance of strategic partnerships and the need to develop focused policies for specific regions. Above all, we are pragmatic since we believe in the necessities of public-private partnerships.

GLOBAL SPORTS HERITAGE ASSOCIATION GSHA

In April 2020, Homa Taj Nasab founded Global Sports Heritage Association (GSHA – /’ɡeeʃə/) which  promotes sporting culture, design and heritage in various fields, across generations, and around the globe, with equal emphasis on recreational sports, dance and physical activities.

In collaboration with athletes and professionals in the worlds of sports, culture & heritage – and following decades of research and work in heritage and culture fields – GSHA engages with Olympic and non-Olympic international sports organizations; national, regional & international culture, academic & heritage institutions; policy-makers; sporting clubs; regional & global brands; foundations; athletes, historians and artists; as well as fans, among others.

As a lover of all forms of performance arts, a former theater practitioner and an artist, Homa is passionate about advocating for an appreciation of sports heritage which gives stakeholders a better understanding of their place in contemporary society. GSHA aims to promote sports culture and heritage as an added tool for cultivating the ability to make informed, strategic decisions toward balancing and optimizing the impact of policy options and priorities at different levels. 

GSHA is also keen on integrating indigenous and ethnic sports into the Western-centric cannon of so-called ‘sports history’ and ‘sports heritage’ as defined by Western-based and trained academics and practitioners.