Culture and arts institutions, independent initiatives and local authorities’ representatives from all over Turkey will gather in a conference to take place in Feriye between 26 and 27 June 2019. 
More than 20 speakers from Turkey and Netherlands will focus on a wide range of topics from sustainable cities to cultural heritage, festivals, and cultural planning.
With the partnership of Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ankara, and the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Istanbul, the conference titled Making Connections through Arts and Culture to be held at Feriye on Wednesday, 26 June and Thursday, 27 June will bring participants from 19 cities in Anatolia and representatives of Dutch institutions together in a series of panel discussions.
The main theme of the conference was set through a common research project launched by İKSV, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ankara, and the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Istanbul. The culminating event of the desk-bound researches and site visits that lasted for 15 months from November 2017 to February 2019, the conference is intended as a discussion platform which could encourage sustainable cooperation between different cities and actors in the field of culture and arts.
During the discussion panels to be held at Feriye, speakers from 19 cities as well as moderators and commentators from the Netherlands and Istanbul will share their views on a wide range of topics from sustainable cities to cultural heritage, festivals, and children and arts. Discussions on cultural planning strategies of local authorities, different models of cultural management, oral history studies, participation in culture and arts or cultural diversity will be discussed.
For the two-day long conference, participants will be asked to make a free registration. Details of the conference and registration requirements will be shared on the week of 17 June on the İKSV website (www.iksv.org/en).
15 months, 19 cities, 70 site visits, and nearly 100 meetings
İKSV Cultural Policy Studies, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ankara, and the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Istanbul together launched a project to continue for 15 months in 19 selected cities in Turkey. The research on desk conducted by İKSV was complemented by visits paid respectively to Manisa, Bursa, Afyonkarahisar, Çanakkale, Mersin, Konya, Van, Malatya, Çorum, Bayburt, Erzurum, Mardin, Tunceli, Trabzon, Rize, Sivas, Kayseri, Gaziantep, and Hatay.
The project teams conducted semi-structured interviews not only with local artists but also representatives from local authorities, the related university faculties, private or public sponsored cultural institutions, independent cultural initiatives, and NGOs. In addition to nearly 100 meetings held in 19 cities, more than 70 cultural centres, cultural heritage and historic sites, and museums were visited during the project.
Turkey is one of the priority countries of the 4-year cultural policy framework of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for the period 2017-2020. Although the cultural unit of the Embassy and the Consulate General of the Netherlands offers support to several projects all over Turkey, it is usually only the actors in metropoles that get access to the policies in support of culture and arts. This project was launched to address the needs, to cooperate with local partners, develop cultural initiatives, and to strengthen cultural ties between the Netherlands and Turkey.
One of the three main objectives of İKSV as specified in its strategic plan is to contribute to the improvement of cultural policies. It is among the priorities of İKSV to share its 46 years of expertise and networks to cities in Anatolia, build strong ties with local authorities and cultural actors, contribute to their efforts in strategic planning and administration, and determine the needs of local cultural policies in Turkey.
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