World Heritage Month
World Heritage Month is a celebration of Philadelphia’s World Heritage City designation. Originally launched as World Heritage Week, this initiative has experienced steady growth over the years—evolving into a month-long celebration in recognition of Philadelphia’s expanding global profile and its vibrant multicultural communities.
The city of Philadelphia declared World Heritage Day on the last Thursday of May to honor its status as a World Heritage City. Today, we mark World Heritage Month with a rich selection of events that highlight Philadelphia’s international heritages, diverse communities, and global connections.
The month is a collaborative celebration, presented in partnership with valued community organizations, the Office of the City Representative, and GPA-hosted events.
Please scroll below to sign up for this year's World Heritage Month and to register for an information session.
Are you or your organization looking to get involved in the 2026 festivities?
For 2026, Global Philadelphia Association is hosting a special World Heritage Month Celebration where we will expand our typical World Heritage Week into a month of programming! As a part of the 250th anniversary celebration in Philadelphia, we are excited to significantly scale this event.
We are looking to partner with various organizations that highlight Philadelphia's global/international culture, stories, culture, food, history, or communities. In addition we are looking for media partners to help us spread the word about this special edition of our World Heritage programming.
Interested in taking part? Sign out the interest form below!
Our 2025 Partners
What is World Heritage Month?
Philadelphia is a proud World Heritage City with a thriving network of globally engaged organizations, businesses, and institutions. World Heritage Month 2026 will be a city-wide, multi-organizational festival with programming focused on international cooperation, culture, trade, innovation, education, heritage, and more.
Building on the momentum of past World Heritage Week and Global Philly celebrations, World Heritage Month 2026 will be a unifying event that highlights Philadelphia’s unique role as an international city—past, present, and future.
This milestone year provides an extraordinary platform to showcase the global and international actors shaping Philadelphia across the nonprofit, corporate, government, academic, and private sectors. Having successfully hosted a Globy Philly conference in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019, Global Philadelphia is well-positioned—alongside 400+ international and community partners—to coordinate this major 2026 effort.
World Heritage Month 2026 is both a celebration and a call to action—elevating Philadelphia’s global identity during the nation’s 250th birthday.
World Heritage Month Advisory Committee
Martin Alfaro, Founder & CEO, Alfaro Media Consulting
Paresh Birla, Senior Cybersecurity Transformation Leader, Ernst & Young Global Consulting Services
Daecia-jamè Borgia, Destination Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Visit Philadelphia
Christie Jones, Executive Director, Philadelphia Bar Association
Jabari Jones, President, West Philadelphia Corridor Collaborative
Bill Keys, Executive Director, International House Philadelphia
Val Kogan, President, Mid-Atlantic – Eurasia Business Council
Raina Leon, Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, City of Philadelphia
Yocasta Lora, Associate State Director of Advocacy & Community Engagement, Philly250, AARP
Michael Neumuis, Philadelphia 2026 Director (U.S. Semiquincentennial), City of Philadelphia
Ernest Owens, Award-winning Journalist & CEO, Ernest Media Empire, LLC
Sheila Alexander Reid, Executive Director Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
Tiffany Spraggins, Director, Power Up Your Business, Community College of Philadelphia
GPA would like to acknowledge our partners and thank the city of
Philadelphia and city council for the support of our work.
Thank you to our 3-year investors
& in partnership with The City of Philadelphia Office of the City Representative
Media Partners
Press Coverage