Amareswar Galla

Amar is an unhyphenated Indo Australian and a highly experienced practitioner in culture and poverty alleviation, with a forty year record of leadership in Indigenous driven affirmative action programmes, arts and cultural policy development, urbanism, intangible cultural heritage, World Heritage processes, intercultural dialogue, heritage tourism, and the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

He is the Executive Director of the International Institute for the Inclusive Museum and previously served as Vice President of the International Council of Museums in Paris, where he chaired the Cross Cultural Task Force and oversaw significant institutional transformations. He currently holds the position of Pro Chancellor and Distinguished Professor of Indigeneity and Inclusive Museum and Heritage Studies at the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences and the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in Bhubaneswar, recognized as the world’s largest Indigenous educational institution.

Amar is a founding member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) University Twinning and Networking Programme Network on Culture, Tourism and Development. He has served as the UNESCO Chair on Inclusive Museums and Sustainable Heritage Development in India (2021–2025) and is an accredited facilitator and mentor for the UNESCO 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

His leadership is deeply rooted in the knowledge communities he founded around the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly through the International Institute for the Inclusive Museum.