Grant Programme for Creative Collaborations 2023-24

Suppliants of Syria’ is an innovative digital project that operates across cultures, reaching new audiences in both Turkey and the UK, including both refugees and people who feel threatened by migration. It combines the theatricality of UK partner Border Crossings’ artistic approach with the immediacy of the digital documentary format.

One of the greatest living directors in the history of cinema, Ken Loach, is featured with three of his films in the Fingerprint selection of the Accessible Film Festival. Ken Loach's latest film ‘The Old Oak’, which had its world premiere at the main competition of the year's Cannes Film Festival, meets the audience in Ankara for the first time in this section. The other films in the selection include the 1969 masterpiece that made Loach's name in the world of cinema, ‘Kes’ and ’Raining Stones’. UK artist Michael Achtman also delivers a workshop on Creative Audio Description as part of the programme.

Reclaim the Frame Flying Broom Movie Days takes place at Kavaklıdere Cinema with the partnership of the Flying Broom Foundation and Reclaim the Frame. Two-day event hosts four films that have not had their Turkey premiere yet and two discussions.

https://ucansupurge.org.tr/

As part of the festival, a conversation takes place with an English jazz musician, saxophonist, composer, and women's and LGBTI+ rights activist Nubya Garcia to contribute to the development of young girls and provide insight into the world of music

https://bozcaadacazfestivali.com/en/

Soundcheck! aims to create an engaging podcast series in cooperation with Donald Hyslop of Resonance FM/London and Radio Rozana/Gaziantep exploring cultural diversity and the fusion of creative expressions in Turkey. Specifically, the focus is on Syrian music and musicians, and their impact on the cultural landscape of the host country.

www.kopru.ngo

Recognising the shared fascination with Ottoman Turkish and Arab musical heritage, Nefes Foundation collaborates with distinguished musicians from King’s College, under the guidance of Professor Martin Stokes, Oxford Maqam music ensemble, Dr. Harun Korkmaz from Istanbul University, and musician Ibrahim Muslimani from Nefes Foundation, to strengthen cultural cooperation between Turkey and the UK.

 https://nefes.org.tr/

The ‘Crafting Resilience: Women's Cultural Revival in Post-Earthquake Reconstruction’ project is a transformative initiative in Hatay, designed to empower women in the aftermath of an earthquake. Through a combination of fair trade, craft, and placemaking activities rooted in culture and arts, the project aims to rebuild spaces for artistic and craft production destroyed by the disaster.

http://www.depremdayanisma.org/

‘Shorelines’ is a long-term research and conversation project which delves into the geographic and social transformations caused by human mobility along the shores of Turkey and draws factual data on the economies of agriculture, fisheries, production, legal and illegal trades along the coasts. The project studies the borders of the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterranean through the lenses of disciplines including social geography, ecology and urban planning. Through layering information and knowledge, ‘Shorelines’ provides a ground for interpretation of the current status of the coasts of Turkey. 

http://avtoonline.org/

The project presents a month-long exhibition designed to foster cross-cultural understanding and empathy through the art of collaborative storytelling. In partnership with Turkey’s Hayata Destek (Support to Life) and the UK’s Choose Love, four artists from fam° and its UK partner, Grand Matter, visualise real-life stories gathered by NGOs. The exhibition provides artists from various countries with the opportunity to exchange stories, fostering the values of inclusion and diversity – particularly for displaced or minority groups.

http://www.famhub.co/

The project uses design fiction to create pluralistic futures of sustainability that challenge and provide an alternative to the domination of techno-centric, corporate centric and Western visions of futures. Collaborating with local designers and artists in Istanbul and Lancaster, it explores futures of sustainability from a more-than-human perspective that considers non-human actors as relevant stakeholders in the design process (e.g., animals, plants, microorganisms, ecosystems, landscapes), with a specific focus on biodiversity loss, a common issue for both countries.  

https://kuar.notion.site/DESIGN-LAB-cb4f916bd1154808b496e9c611c073b9

‘Performance Ecologies’ is a playwriting and eco-dramaturgy programme with an ambition to create a space for collective discussion, publish a book that draws on the programme itself, and encourage the production and translation of new plays and performance texts.

https://www.mitosboyut.com.tr/

‘No Such Thing’ is a conversation between two people who wouldn’t otherwise meet. It’s an ephemeral encounter shared over a meal - shaped, experienced, and remembered by those two people alone. In the scope of the project that has been delivered over a decade in Manchester by Quarantine, Onagöre invites Quarantine to pass on the techniques of ‘No Such Thing’ to local artists in Istanbul.

http://onagore.com/

Galata Perform and Good Chance Theatre are collaborating on the co-produced Jungle project. Good Chance's artistic partner Ammar Haj Ahmad is coming to Istanbul to organise a one-day performance workshop. Selected Turkish and Syrian local artists ispresenting Turkish play readings of The Jungle to the audience as part of the New Text Theatre Festival.

 https://galataperform.com/yeni-metin-yeni-tiyatro/

A unique cross-cultural collaboration brings together Turkish folk dance and UK contemporary dance (Ceyda Tanc Dance) highlighting global gender inequalities by challenging traditional gender representation in dance. This innovative way of working with Turkish folk dance subverts traditional gender roles to address contemporary and cultural issues relating to dance and gender.

https://www.ceydatancdance.com
https://konservatuvar.ege.edu.tr/