Aga Khan Trust for Culture

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 His Highness the Aga Khan, the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, is the 49th hereditary Imam (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims In Islam&rsquo;s ethical tradition, religious leaders not only interpret the faith but also have a responsibility to help improve the quality of life in their community and in the societies amongst which they live. For His Highness the Aga Khan, this has meant a deep engagement with development for over 60 years through the agencies of the AKDN.
 His Highness the Aga Khan established the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and became Chairman of its Steering Committee in 1977. Subsequently, he founded the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard and MIT (1979) and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (1988), which now includes the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme, Aga Khan Music Programme, Aga Khan Museum and the Education Programme. Other AKDN agencies are also active in the field of the built and natural environment, such as the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, which works to mitigate the threat posed by natural disasters and climate change.
 The Aga Khan&rsquo;s interest and patronage in architecture has been recognised by numerous professional institutions, who have bestowed upon him their highest honours and medals, including:
 <ul>
 <li>the American Institute of Architects, USA (1984);</li>
 <li>the Royal Institute of British Architects (1991);</li>
 <li>International Union of Architects (2001);</li>
 <li>the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (2013); and</li>
 <li>the Architectural League of New York (2017).</li>
 </ul>
 He has also been honoured for his work in preserving cultural heritage, including:
 <ul>
 <li>the Hadrian Award from the World Monuments Fund (1996);</li>
 <li>the Vincent Scully Prize from the National Building Museum (2005); and</li>
 <li>the Urban Land Institute&rsquo;s J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development (2011).</li>
 </ul>
 In addition, he has received honorary citizenships from cities as varied as Granada, Samarkand and Timbuktu, as well as many other awards, decorations and honorary degrees.
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His Highness the Aga Khan is the founder and chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network.

HIS HIGHNESS THE AGA KHAN

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 Prince Amyn Aga Khan is His Highness the Aga Khan&rsquo;s younger brother and grandson of the late Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah Aga Khan. Prince Amyn spent his early childhood in East Africa and Cairo during the Second World War and then attended Le Rosey School in Switzerland at war&rsquo;s end. He received his BA&nbsp;magna cum laude&nbsp;from Harvard University in 1960, and an MA in comparative literature, also from Harvard, in 1963. Simultaneously, he studied piano at the New England Conservatory of Music.More recently, Prince Amyn&rsquo;s deep interest in music has found outlets through his service on the juries of various music prizes, including the Premio Venezia and the Vend&ocirc;me Prize, and his longtime membership on the board of directors of Silkroad (formerly the Silk Road Project), founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma to cultivate musical and artistic collaboration across cultures.
 Since 1968, Prince Amyn has worked closely with his brother, His Highness the Aga Khan, in the domains of economic, social, and cultural development. Prince Amyn serves as a director on the boards of most of the institutions of the Aga Khan Development Network, including the Aga Khan Foundation, the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. The Trust for Culture focuses on the physical, social, cultural, and economic revitalisation of communities in the developing world. It includes the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Historic Cities Programme, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada, and the Aga Khan Music Initiative and Music Awards, which Prince Amyn initiated, and whose Steering Committee he chairs.
 Prince Amyn is a trustee of the World Monuments Fund and was a juror for the 10th International Architecture Exhibition award at the Venice Biennale in 2006.
 He has served and serves on various committees of major museums including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Louvre in Paris, where he served for some years on the Louvre&rsquo;s Acquisitions Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Board of the Aga Khan Museum.
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Prince Amyn Aga Khan is His Highness the Aga Khan’s younger brother and grandson of the late Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah Aga Khan.

Prince Amyn Aga Khan

Ara Guzelimian is Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City. Prior to the Juilliard appointment, Mr. Guzelimian served as Senior Director and Artistic Advisor of Carnegie Hall (1998 to 2006), Artistic Administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and School (1993 to 1998), and Artistic Director of the Ojai Festival (1992 to 1997).&nbsp;He was associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra from 1978 to 1993, first as producer for the Orchestra&rsquo;s national radio broadcasts and, subsequently, as Artistic Administrator, in which capacity he founded and edited the orchestra&rsquo;s monthly publication and helped to create its pre-concert lecture series.&nbsp;Mr. Guzelimian is editor of&nbsp;Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society&nbsp;(Pantheon Books, 2002), a collection of dialogues between Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said. As a music writer and critic, he has contributed to&nbsp;Musical America, Opera Quarterly, Opera News, Symphony&nbsp;magazine,&nbsp;The New York Times.

Ara&nbsp;Guzelimian was awarded the title Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for his contributions to French music and culture.

Ara Guzelimian is Provost and Dean of the Juilliard School in New York City.

Ara Guzelimian

Sir Jonathan Mills is an Australian-born composer and festival director. In the 1990s, he worked in the Architecture Faculty of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, leading courses in acoustic design. He is the composer of several award-winning operas and works for chamber ensemble and orchestra.&nbsp;His opera&nbsp;The Eternity Man&nbsp;was recognised by a Genesis Foundation commission in 2003 and his oratorio&nbsp;Sandakan Threnody&nbsp;won the Prix Italia in 2005.&nbsp;Eucalyptus, a new opera based on Murray Bail&rsquo;s novel was commissioned by Opera Autralia for performances in 2021.

Jonathan Mills has been director of various music and multi-arts festivals in Australia and the UK, where he directed the Edinburgh International Festival from 2007-2014. He is currently Director of the Edinburgh International Culture Summit, a UNESCO-recognised biennial meeting held in conjunction with Edinburgh&rsquo;s summer festivals and is the current President of the EFFE (Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe) International Jury. He is Visiting Professor at Edinburgh, Melbourne and Yale Universities. His work has been recognised by awards from the governments of Australia, Britain, France, Poland and South Korea.

Sir Jonathan Mills is an Australian-born composer and festival director.

Sir Jonathan Mills

Joseph V. Melillo served as executive producer at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) from 1999 to 2018, and is overseeing BAM&rsquo;s 2019 winter/spring artistic season. During his three decades at BAM, Mr Melillo fostered the work of emerging and established artists, forged dynamic artistic partnerships, and furthered the global reach of BAM&rsquo;s mission, including to artistic communities in Central Asia. He&nbsp;was recognised by the French government as a Chevalier (1999) and an Officier (2004) de L&rsquo;Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2004, he was awarded an honorary OBE for his outstanding commitment to British performing arts in America. 

Mr Melillo was appointed Knight of the Royal Order of the Polar Star in 2007, in recognition of his role in solidifying ties between the performing arts communities of Sweden and the United States, and in 2012, he was named cultural ambassador for Taiwan in recognition of his efforts to bring the arts of Taiwan to the US. He was awarded the title of Knight of the National Order of Qu&eacute;bec in 2016.

Joseph V. Melillo served as executive producer at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) from 1999 to 2018.

Joseph Melillo

Zeyba Rahman is Senior Program Officer for the Building Bridges Program at the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, an extension of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, whose mission is to improve the quality of people&rsquo;s lives through the study, understanding, and appreciation of Islamic arts and cultures.&nbsp;The Building Bridges Program&rsquo;s mission is to advance relationships and understanding between US-based Muslim and the broader non-Muslim communities for mutual well-being. It supports projects that engage and educate through literary, media-based, and performing arts experiences.





Prior to joining the Doris Duke Foundation, Ms. Rahman served in a variety of senior curatorial, consulting, and advisory roles for international music and arts festivals, museums, public arts programmes, and broadcasting networks, among them the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Asia Society. Twice honoured by New York City&rsquo;s mayoralty, Ms. Rahman is an advisor to Artworks for Freedom, and the subject of two television profiles as a global arts leader.

Zeyba Rahman is Senior Program Officer for the Building Bridges Program at the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

Zeyba Rahman

Catarina Vaz Pinto was elected Councillor for Culture, Lisbon Municipality, in 2009. Ms Vaz Pinto&rsquo;s previous engagements and experiences include independent consultancies in the fields of cultural policy development as well as culture and artistic education. Ms Vaz Pinto was Executive Coordinator of the Creativity and Artistic Creation Programme at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation from 2003-2007.&nbsp;As a cultural consultant to Quaternaire Portugal, Ms Vaz Pinto led their cultural and theatre development programmes from 2001-2005. Between 1997-2000, Ms Vaz Pinto served as Secretary of State for Culture in a government led by Ant&oacute;nio Guterres. Ms Vaz Pinto has also served as Executive Director and lecturer in Cultural Management in the Cities at the Institute for the Development of Business Management; Deputy Minister of Culture (1995-1997); and Executive Director of the Associa&ccedil;&atilde;o Cultural F&oacute;rum Dan&ccedil;a (1991-1995). 

Ms Vaz Pinto holds a law degree from Universidade Cat&oacute;lica Portuguesa (UCP) and a postgraduate degree in European Studies from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium.

Catarina Vaz Pinto was elected Councillor for Culture, Lisbon Municipality, in 2009.

Catarina Vaz Pinto

Luis Monreal is the General Manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Geneva (Switzerland). He is a conservation specialist, art historian and archaeologist. He has held positions in many institutions. He has been the Curator of Barcelona Museums (1965-1974) and Secretary General of the International Council of Museums ICOM (1974&ndash;1985). He was Director of the Getty Conservation Institute (Los Angeles, 1985&ndash;1990) and Director General, &lsquo;La Caixa&rsquo; Foundation (Barcelona, 1990&ndash;2001).&nbsp;He was also a member of various archaeological missions in Nubia, Sudan, Egypt and Morocco. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on art and archaeology.

He is a board member of the Gala-Salvador Dal&igrave; Foundation (Spain), a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Barcelona, Spain), Commandeur de l&rsquo;Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) and Gran Cruz de Isabel la Cat&oacute;lica (Spain).

Luis Monreal is the General Manager of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

Luis Monreal

Risto Nieminen has served since 2009 as Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Music Service. Previously, Mr. Nieminen served as director of the Finland Radio Symphony Orchestra (1989&ndash;1991) and artistic director of IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) at Georges Pompidou Centre Paris (1991-1996).&nbsp;Mr. Nieminen sat on the Board of the European Association of Festivals from 1997 to 2001 and in 1998 was awarded the honour of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France. Risto Nieminen holds a Master&rsquo;s Degree in Musicology and Literature from the University of Helsinki.

Risto Nieminen has served since 2009 as Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Music Service.

Risto Nieminen

Farrokh Derakhshani is Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. In this capacity, he has organised and participated in numerous international seminars and colloquia dealing with contemporary built environments. He has served as a jury member at schools of architecture in Europe, Africa and Asia and has lectured widely on topics ranging from disposable buildings to architecture in the Muslim World.&nbsp;He has also conceptualised, contributed to or overseen the production of a variety of publications, exhibitions and films on architecture and planning. His writings have appeared in many architectural journals internationally.

Mr Derakhshani&rsquo;s main field of specialisation is the contemporary architecture of Muslim societies. His professional work has included the design and construction management of large-scale public works and infrastructure projects in Iran, as well as architectural design in Paris and Geneva. He trained as an architect at the National University of Iran and later continued his studies at the School of Architecture in Paris.

Farrokh Derakhshani is Director of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Farrokh Derakhshani

Salim Bhatia joined the Aga Khan Development Network as Director of Academies in 2005. In this position, he is responsible for leading the establishment of the Aga Khan Academies, an integrated network of world-class residential schools across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. Prior to leading this effort, Mr Bhatia was involved in building several business enterprises and the development of social and community institutions.

He is a former chairman of the North Carolina Electronic and Information Industries Association, board member of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development and executive committee member of the international engineering consortium.

Throughout his career, Mr Bhatia has had a commitment to voluntary service, having served in leadership roles in the Ismaili community and elsewhere. Mr Bhatia received a Bachelor&rsquo;s of Science (Honours) in Engineering from University College, London and an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard University.

Salim Bhatia was responsible for leading the establishment of the Aga Khan Academies, an integrated network of world-class residential schools.

Salim Bhatia

Azim Nanji is currently Special Advisor to the Provost of the Aga Khan University, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, a joint partnership between His Highness the Aga Khan and the Government of Canada. He has held many prestigious academic and administrative appointments, most recently as Senior Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University, where he was also lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies.&nbsp;From 1998 to 2008, Professor Nanji served as Director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He has published numerous books and articles on religion, Islam and Ismailism.

Within the Aga Khan Development Network, he has served as a member of the task force for the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) and Vice Chair of the Madrasa-based Early Childhood Education Programme in East Africa. He served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1998, 2001 and 2016.

Azim Nanji is Special Advisor to the Provost of the Aga Khan University and a member of the Board of Directors of the Global Centre for Pluralism.

Professor Azim Nanji

Shamsh Kassim-Lakha is Chairman of the Board of the University of Central Asia (UCA). As Founding President of the Aga Khan University (AKU), the first private university chartered in South Asia, Dr Kassim-Lakha led the planning, building and operations of this internationally renowned institution, established by His Highness the Aga Khan in 1983, with campuses in Pakistan, East Africa and the United Kingdom.&nbsp;Dr Kassim-Lakha served in senior positions in the Pakistan government, including as the country&rsquo;s Minister of Education and as Minister of Science and Technology in the caretaker government in 2007-2008. As Minister of State in 2001-2002, he led the task force that recommended higher education reforms in Pakistan, resulting in major structural changes in universities and the creation of the Higher Education Commission, of which he was a member from 2007 to 2011.

The first two decades of his career were with the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development where he served as Managing Director of Industrial Promotion Services of Pakistan, a manufacturing and venture capital company with a work force of 22,000.

Shamsh Kassim-Lakha is Chairman of the Board of the University of Central Asia.

Dr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha

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