Open Call for Nominations: Outstanding Museum Practice Award 2026

CIMAM opens the Call for Nominations for the sixth edition of the Outstanding Museum Practice Award (OMPA) 2026, an international recognition of the incredible work being done in modern and contemporary art museums worldwide.

The award aims to highlight museum practices that can drive structural transformation, foster deeper connections with people, communities, and context, and serve as catalysts for meaningful change.

Established in 2021, the CIMAM Outstanding Museum Practice Award (OMPA) encourages museum professionals to share exemplary practices that can inspire the sector. It fosters a spirit of shared learning, collaboration, and resilience, providing valuable insights that can help museums navigate their specific contexts while addressing challenges relevant across different parts of the world.

Who Can Submit a Nomination?

The nomination process is open to modern and contemporary museum professionals worldwide.
Candidates can submit their own museum’s practice or recognize another museum’s outstanding initiative.
CIMAM membership is not a requirement
Eligible institutions must be dedicated to modern and contemporary art and align with ICOM’s Museum Definition.
Nomination Criteria:

Exemplary practices and programs for achieving the mission of the museum or collection through innovative approaches to core activities such as conservation, education, collection, exhibition programs, publications, research, public access, communication, governance, and sustainability.
Museum programs that provide relevant, sustainable, and collaborative content to create meaningful and lasting connections with people, communities, and their context, contributing to lasting structural change within museum operations.
Practices that reflect an institutional purpose rooted in ethical and sustainable values, which seek to provide significant value to people, communities and their specific contexts.
Nominations should demonstrate practices and programs committed to contributing to the arts and their communities with a medium- and long-term vision.
The nominated practice must demonstrate its potential to inspire other museums and cultural institutions to adapt it to different contexts, contributing to broader structural transformation within the field.

Recognition and Impact:

The selected museum practices will receive:

The award includes a conference registration ticket for a representative of the recognized museum to attend the CIMAM Annual Conference, to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 20 to 22 November 2026.
Public recognition at the CIMAM Annual Conference, including an invitation for the awardees to present their practice to the international professional community.
Visibility across CIMAM’s digital platforms, social media, and global press.
Participation in CIMAM webinars and knowledge-sharing programs throughout the year.
Inclusion in a dedicated section on CIMAM’s website, serving as a resource for best practices in modern and contemporary art museums.

The deadline for submitting a nomination is April 15, 2026, at midnight CET.