The Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF) is a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

–registered charity was founded in 1995 in London. The mission is to promote and preserve the history, languages and cultures of Iran and the Persianate world, covering all periods of Iranian civilization from ancient to modern.

History and organisation

The Iran Heritage Foundation was founded in the UK in 1990 and registered as a charity in 1991 (no. 1001785). It is funded by contributions from individuals and corporations, and through various fundraising events. The Foundation does not accept financial support from any government organisations or lobbying groups. IHF is governed by a body of trustees supported by an advisory board and grant-giving committees. The Iran Heritage Foundation seeks to promote and protect the cultural heritage of Iran, ancient, medieval and modern, in the most effective possible way. This is achieved through giving grants for academic and contemporary arts projects, supporting fellowships and internships at prestigious universities and museums, organising and sponsoring exhibitions, arranging seminars and conferences, organising monthly events at Asia House in London, and supporting many other kinds of activity, both in the United Kingdom and around the world.

Chairpersons and Director

* Co-Chairs ** Ali Rashidian (2017–) ** Alireza Rastegar (2017–)

IHF America

In 2010, IHF established an independent parallel organisation in

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

in the United States, known as IHF America. This organisation supported a curatorial post at the Freer Sackler gallery (now the Freer Gallery of Art) in Washington DC and played a major role in the British Museum's tour of the

Cyrus Cylinder The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several pieces, on which is written a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of Persia's Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great. Kuhrt (2007), p. 70, 72 It dates from the 6th ...

exhibition to five different United States museum venues in 2013.

Object, remit

The remit of IHF is wide and includes archaeology, history, art history, literature, the performing arts, film, photography, music and contemporary art. IHF achieves its objectives by organising and supporting exhibitions, cultural events and conferences, giving grants, sponsoring publications, and supporting posts in universities and museums. Cultural/educational institutions that have been supported by IHF include the universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Exeter, London, Oxford, Reading, and St Andrews, and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

, the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

, and the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Activities

The Foundation organises a regular series of events including lectures, panel discussions, performances, and film screenings. Major international conferences organised by IHF include: ‘Iran's Natural Heritage’ (2014); ‘From Persepolis to Isfahan: Safeguarding Cultural Heritage’ (2015), and two conferences on Tappeh Sialk and ancient

Kashan Kashan ( fa, ; Qashan; Cassan; also romanized as Kāshān) is a city in the northern part of Isfahan province, Iran. At the 2017 census, its population was 396,987 in 90,828 families. Some etymologists argue that the city name comes from ...

(2017, 2018). IHF also awards annual grants for academic and scholarly research as well as for contemporary and performing arts projects and festivals. These grants are awarded by two separate committees made up of external advisors. IHF supports and sponsors events and activities which promote Iranian culture and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, including exhibitions such as ‘Forgotten Empire’ and ‘Shah Abbas’ at the British Museum] in 2005 and 2009. Additionally, the 2013 exhibition ‘The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia’, which toured around the US, was organised by the

in partnership with the Iran Heritage Foundation and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. An ongoing major project supported by the IHF is the Golha (radio programmes), Golha Archive, an online digitized and fully indexed archive of the Golha radio programmes broadcast on Iranian radio station from 1956 until 1979.

References

External links

Iran Heritage Foundation
{{Authority control Arts foundations based in Europe Iranian culture Charities based in London