Palestine Museum Wins Prestigious Outstanding Museum Practice Award

The Palestinian Museum in Birzeit was among three winners of the fifth edition of the Outstanding Museum Practice Award (OMPA) from CiMAM - the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art - in recognition of its digitally downloadable Gaza Remains the Story exhibition.

The Palestine Museum’s Director - Amer Shomali - accepted the award from Suzanne Cotter, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Chair of the OMPA Committee at the 57th CiMAM Annual Conference in Turin, Italy on 28 November 2025. “At a time of immense uncertainties and challenges in the world, the Award is a celebration and also a signal of promise and potential for the museum as an institution that can make a positive and productive difference to people and communities and to be agents of affirmation and humanity”, said Cotter of the awardees, which also included Norway's Bergen Kjott Foundation and Argentina's Museo Barda del Desierto.

CIMAM was founded in 1962 and is the only global network of modern and contemporary art museum experts in the field. Its members comprise directors and curators working in modern and contemporary art museums, collections, and archives. Its vision is for a world where the contribution of museums, collections, and archives of modern and contemporary art to the cultural, social, and economic well-being of society is recognised and respected. OMPA was launched in 2021 and is based on nominations from the contemporary art museum sector. The 2025 winners were selected from 48 nominations. This year’s steering committee included professionals from Hong Kong’s M+, Manila’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts, Basel’s Institute Art Gender Nature, and Bangalore’s Public Arts project. The award gives visibility to museums and initiatives that lead to structural change within modern museums that are connected to communities and their specific contexts. It also aims to give visibility to practices that inspire through meaningful contributions, regardless of scale or resources.

The Palestinian Museum’s Gaza Remains the Story illustrates the cause and context of the Palestinian experience, focusing on the land, places, and people of Gaza. It strives to inform, educate, and narrate stories of historical locations and cultural practices in Gaza, providing a glimpse into Gaza’s arts, aspirations, and uniqueness, what remains of it in these harsh times.

While the deafening noise of never-ending bombardment drowns out the daily life, heritage, artistic expression, and creativity of the people of Palestine, this exhibition strives to look behind the curtains of the theatre of war and conquest. By narrating the stories of Gaza and countering misinformation, "Gaza Remains the Story" aims to provide a global audience with information and references to contextualise Gaza within Palestine, the region, and the world. This exhibition employs text, drawings, and audiovisual material to explore historical, economic, geographic, demographic, and creative aspects of life in Gaza.

The exhibition, which consists of digital images and plans that museums can print and exhibit worldwide, redefined the role of museums as spaces of both resistance and survival. The adaptability of the exhibition played a vital role in affirming cultural heritage and collective memory. The CiMAM website explained that “museums remain spaces of cultural memory, for reflecting on the present and imagining our collective futures. Safeguarding this role lies at the heart of the awarded projects.”

The Palestinian Museum understands what it means to be an institution in the 2020s, choosing a digital format over a physical one, thus being able to communicate its vision more widely and offering an innovative model as a way to continue fulfilling its mission during a time of intense upheaval. The CiMAM committee credited the Museum’s ability to "redefine the role of museums as spaces of both survival and resistance.” Taking an adaptive strategy, it demonstrated how museums continue to play a vital role, even under extreme circumstances, presenting both a model of empowerment and resilience during the most challenging situations.

“The Committee praised The Palestinian Museum’s ability to redefine the role of museums as spaces of both survival and resistance, playing a vital role in affirming cultural heritage and collective memory. Operating under extreme circumstances, the museum has succeeded in caring for and mobilizing local communities, while also raising visibility for its mission”, says CiMAM, “In many ways, its work reflects the reality of our times: a world in which more and more institutions are compelled to safeguard their heritage, art, and cultural narratives in the face of adversity. The Palestinian Museum embodies the essential foundations of the museum project across civilizations: to preserve a legacy that can speak to future generations. Against all odds, this project transcends the political circumstances that shaped it and redefines how exhibitions can be conceived, creatively adapting to the situation at hand.”

The award is a huge win for the Palestinian Museum and the MENA region as a whole, during a time of immense struggle, the museum has put Gaza at the centre of the story. The museum demonstrated that institutions are agents of continuity, creativity, and adaptability, as well as spaces for preservation. It offered a new model of possibility for museums globally.