Open call for nominations for OMPA 2024

We are pleased to announce that the call for nominations is now open for the fourth edition of CIMAM's Outstanding Museum Practice Award. This is your opportunity to highlight exceptional practices that shape the world of modern and contemporary art museums.

We invite you to collaborate with us to identify and celebrate outstanding museum practices that inspire you. Whether they are innovative ways of working, transformative initiatives, or impactful community engagements, we want to hear about them, and we're counting on you to help us identify them.

Nominate those practices that you feel deserve recognition and highlight the incredible work being done at your museum or by your peers. Your feedback is invaluable as it helps us create a diverse pool of essential resources to foster dynamic professional exchanges and cultivate a rich horizon of hope and possibility.

The call for nominations for the Outstanding Museum Practices Award is open from March 18 through August 30, 2024, to recognize the incredible work being done in museums around the world.

Why nominate?

Because by honoring these practices, we not only recognize the dedication of modern and contemporary art museum professionals around the world, but also amplify their impact beyond their local communities. It's a way to share knowledge, promote excellence, and bring relevance to our institutions and their passionate teams.

Let's celebrate together the dedication and creativity of museum professionals around the world. Submit your nomination now and help shape the future of museum practice.

Nominate an Outstanding Museum Practice for the 2024 Edition

Who can submit a nomination?

The CIMAM Outstanding Museum Practice Award is open to museum professionals and individuals working in the museum field who wish to nominate an outstanding museum practice or program to be recognized by CIMAM.

Museum professionals may nominate their own museum or propose another museum or particular museum practice.

CIMAM membership is not required for a museum to be nominated or to submit a nomination.

In submitting a nomination, you will contribute to the identification of museum practices that have the potential to inspire the transformation of museums into more empathic, accessible, inclusive, diverse, flexible, and co-creative institutions.

What are the criteria for nomination?

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.

Nominations should demonstrate practices and programs committed to contributing to the arts and their communities with a medium- and long-term vision.

Institutions eligible for nomination are committed and dedicated to modern and contemporary art and comply with the Museum Definition of ICOM: “A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible, and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.”

Examples of best practices include:

• Governance practices that reinforce the value of the museum’s people and culture and consistently support the museum’s mission, vision, and purpose.
• Innovative acquisition policies and ways of presenting modern and contemporary art collections and exhibitions that are relevant to the audiences they serve, their scale, and context.
• Innovation in public, educational, communication, and accessibility programs for different age groups, community diversity, and narrative approaches.
• Innovation in national and international partnership programs between museums to promote more sustainable museum practices regarding the itineracy of exhibitions and the education and outreach of audiences.
• Innovation in interpreting current standards of museum practice with a vision of a socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable future.
• Innovative museum practices that address changing social and cultural realities to ensure relevance to the public for museums of the future.

Excluded from the eligibility criteria are:

• Exhibitions, awards, and one-time events.

How are nominees selected?

The winner(s) of the OMPA go through a thorough selection process involving the OMPA steering committee of the CIMAM Board. The steering committee is composed of directors of contemporary art museums from different continents who carefully evaluate all the nominations and propose a shortlist. The shortlist is then presented to the full CIMAM Board, which includes 15 museum directors, artistic directors, and independent curators representing CIMAM's international community.

The CIMAM Board collectively decides which museum practice or practices should receive international recognition. If the CIMAM Board finds that none of the nominated museums' practices are suitable for recognition in a particular year, no candidates will be selected.

How to submit your nomination?

A nomination form will be available online for completion with the following information:

1. Description and explanation of max. 500 words that detail the outstanding nature of the nominated practice.
2. Images of the project
3. Provide links to the website and other relevant supports.
4. Submit your nomination here (the next nomination period will start in 2024)

What happens to selected museums?

The museum programs selected will receive the public recognition of CIMAM and its members during the CIMAM General Assembly held every year during the last day of the Annual Conference. The awardees’ nominated practices are widely disseminated on social networks, the CIMAM website, and through the world press.

The awarded institutions or organizations will be offered a place at the forthcoming CIMAM annual conference.

*Please note that this ticket only includes entrance to the conference for one person from the museum and does not cover transportation and accommodation."

In addition, throughout the year, the winning institutions are actively involved in CIMAM programs, participating in webinar sessions to promote awareness of their recognized exemplary practices.

The CIMAM website will feature information highlighting recognized outstanding museum practices, which will serve as a reference for the sector in its drive toward more responsive operating models.

OMPA 2024 Nomination Form