The International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM) has announced that the Palestinian Museum has won the 2025 Award for Best Museum Practices for its exhibition “Gaza Remains the Story”, in recognition of its role in redefining the function of museums as spaces of persistence and resistance, and in reinforcing Palestinian cultural memory amid ongoing war and destruction.
The Palestinian Museum dedicates this award to beloved Gaza and to the steadfastness of its people, whose resilience inspires everything we do
The award was announced in Turin, Italy, during the annual CIMAM conference, held from 28 to 30 November 2025, with the participation of representatives from leading modern and contemporary art museums around the world. In its statement, the jury noted: “At a time of growing global challenges, the Palestinian Museum presents a model of resilience and creativity, affirming that a museum can be an active force in upholding humanity and resisting erasure”.
During the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Museum was forced to close its doors due to political conditions and the movement restrictions imposed by the occupation, leaving its audience unable to reach it. At the same time, the Palestinian Museum Digital Archive witnessed an extraordinary surge in access — more than twentyfold — from cultural institutions and individuals around the world. Faced with this reality, the Museum redefined its role as a source of knowledge accessible to all, rather than a destination dependent on physical presence. Its spaces expanded into a global, borderless network that extends far beyond its galleries, reaching any place that welcomes the Palestinian narrative.
“Gaza Remains the Story” emerged as a direct expression of this shift: a ready-to-print exhibition designed to be downloaded, produced, and displayed anywhere in the world, adaptable to any space and requiring minimal resources. Since its launch, it has been showcased in more than 230 locations across 48 countries, in settings ranging from museums, universities, and cultural institutions to cafés — and, in some cities, even the streets themselves.
This open model allows supporters of the Palestinian cause, as well as cultural and educational institutions and individuals, to host the exhibition free of charge and bring it into their communities, expanding participation and deepening the understanding of the historical, political, and cultural contexts shaping the Palestinian experience. Each new display becomes an extension of a growing network of solidarity and a continuation of the Palestinian narrative in every hosting space.
Since its launch, “Gaza Remains the Story” has received more than 250 hosting requests from cultural and educational institutions, community initiatives, and individuals across over 48 countries, including Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The exhibition has already been implemented in more than 230 venues, benefiting from its open digital format that allows it to be easily downloaded, printed, and exhibited anywhere.
Maher Qaddoura, the visionary and sponsor behind the Museum’s ready-to-download, print, and display exhibition model, stated: “This award proves something simple: when someone carries a bold idea with conviction, and when professionals join that journey with skill and heart, we can create something far bigger than ourselves. The Micro Museum began as a belief—that the Palestinian story deserves to be told with dignity, creativity, and truth. Today, this recognition shows what collaboration can achieve when vision meets commitment”.
For his part, general director of the Palestinian Museum, Amer Shomali, said: “This exhibition aligns with the Museum’s vision to expand its global presence through traveling exhibitions that reach Palestinian communities and their supporters worldwide. This month alone, Museum exhibitions have reached multiple cities and cultural venues, including “Gaza Remains the Story” in more than ten spaces around the world; “Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine” in Dundee; “The Dice Player”, in addition to a contribution to the exhibition “Sillah” in Sharjah; “Glimmer of a Grove Beyond” in Canada; “A Museum Without Borders” in Nazareth; as well as “To Tell My Story” In Spain. This growing presence reflects the natural extension of Palestinian communities across the world and reaffirms the Museum’s commitment to expanding the reach of the Palestinian narrative beyond political geography and redistributing Palestinian memory onto the world map. Every hosting space becomes part of a cultural act of resistance that confronts erasure and colonialism and reasserts Palestine’s presence in contemporary global consciousness”.
The Best Museum Practices Award, presented by CIMAM, is one of the leading global honors in the museum sector. It highlights initiatives that generate structural transformation within contemporary museums and redefine their roles and relationships with the communities they serve. Established in 2021, the award focuses on practices that embody innovation, enhance public accessibility, support sustainability, and foster meaningful connections between museums and their communities.