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Ms Judith Opoku-Boateng, elected to serve on the Executive Board of International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA)

Ms Judith Opoku-Boateng, Archivist at the Institute of African Studies (IAS), College of Humanities - University of Ghana, has been elected to serve on the Executive Board of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives as Vice President for Communication for the 2020-2023 term. 

The International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA) is a professional association concerned with the care, access and long-term preservation of the world’s sound and moving image heritage.  Through its active worldwide membership and training initiatives, IASA supports and advocates the development of best professional standards and practice amongst organisations and individuals which share these purposes.

Established in 1969 in Amsterdam to function as a medium for international co-operation between archives that preserve recorded sound and audiovisual documents, IASA has members from 70 countries representing a broad palette of audiovisual archives and personal interests which are distinguished by their focus on particular subjects and areas, eg. Archives for all sorts of musical recordings, historic, literary, folkloric and ethnological sound documents, theatre productions and oral history interviews, bio-acoustics, environmental and medical sounds, linguistic and dialect recordings, as well as recordings for forensic purposes. Visit: https://www.iasa-web.org/

As the Archivist of the J. H. Kwabena Nketia Archives at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Ms. Opoku-Boateng oversees an audiovisual and paper heritage preservation programme which supports both academic research and creative engagement.  Preceding her current position, she engaged with the International Centre for African Music and Dance (ICAMD) at the University of Ghana, as a principal research assistant, collecting and archiving music and dance forms from indigenous communities in Ghana. 

Beyond the University, Ms. Opoku-Boateng has served as a private consultant for local and international Organizations including Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) (from 2019-2020) and  ICCROM (from 2015-2017), where she also functioned as a resource person and local organising Chair for ICCROM’s SOIMA programme in July 2017.  Ms. Opoku-Boateng is a US State Alumni (International Visitor Leadership Programme 2011); and is the immediate past Chair of the Diversity Task Force of IASA, as well as its ambassador for Ghana and West Africa.  Ms Opoku-Boateng has been involved in archival activism and participates in a global Audiovisual Think Tank (Netherlands Sound and Vision Initiative) and a few other local and international initiatives.  She has presented papers at conferences, symposia and workshops on Audiovisual Heritage Preservation locally and globally and published in peer reviewed journals. Ms. Opoku-Boateng further advocates for the sustainability of the archiving profession and promotes the training of young professionals within her region.

The Institute of African Studies has been an institutional member of IASA since 2016. The membership covers five members of staff of IAS, including the Archivist. 

The IAS wishes Ms. Opoku-Boateng, a successful tenure.