South Asia contains deeply interconnected histories, cultural routes, and shared traditions, yet its museums and public narratives often present heritage through rigid national frames shaped by colonial knowledge systems. This study adopts a qualitative, multi-method approach drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and archival documentary research. It examines how the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and its cultural arm, the SAARC Cultural Centre, have sought to create alternative regional imaginaries through sustained cultural programming. Using official records, activity archives (2015-2025), research grant calls, and institutional publications, the paper analyses Talk Series lectures, Cultural Trails seminars, research grants, festivals, artist camps, and literary initiatives. The paper argues that these programmes should not be read as evidence of completed regional integration, but as the gradual construction of institutional conditions for dialogue, recognition, and cross-border cultural exchange. Through the lenses of cultural diplomacy, decolonial theory, and Pratt’s concept of the contact zone, the manuscript shows how SAARC initiatives create spaces where shared heritage can be debated and reinterpreted beyond nationalist boundaries. Particular attention is given to SAARC’s recent museum-oriented research agenda, which reflects a broader shift from identifying shared heritage toward rethinking how that heritage is interpreted, curated, and communicated to the public. The paper concludes by proposing a practical framework for decolonised museum practice based on relational curation, inclusive participation, transnational collaboration, and digital connectivity. Despite political and financial constraints, SAARC’s cultural institutions remain significant as low-intensity but durable mechanisms of regional engagement in South Asia.