Türkiye Delegation at the Edinburgh Festivals
Momentum is a delegate programme that takes place in Edinburgh each August during the city’s busiest festival season. It invites key cultural figures from around the world to engage with Edinburgh’s festivals, the wider Scottish cultural sector, and the international creative community that gathers in the city at this time of year. Read more about the festivals at the Festivals Edinburgh website .
The programme supports the development of long-term, sustainable creative collaborations between the arts professionals and organisations based in focus countries and Scotland and Türkiye is one of these selected focus countries for a three years long period since 2024.
Momentum Country Focus 2025: Türkiye Delegation
- Murat Baki (AKM – Atatürk Culture Center), Bürge Kayacan (Ankara State Opera and Ballet), Handan Uzal Dündar ( Istanbul Theatre Festival, İKSV), Ebru Nihan Celkan (playwright, director, and gender equity consultant) took part in the Momentum Türkiye delegation programme (15–19 August 2025).
- Barış Arman (Kazan Dairesi) attended the Edinburgh Theatre and Dance Showcase (15-20 August 2025).
Momentum 2024: Türkiye Delegation
In the first year, as part of the Momentum 2024 programme, five delegates from Türkiye have been invited to engage with Edinburgh festivals:
- Aslı Tohumcu (writer) participated in the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Momentum Literature programme (12–16 August 2024 ).
- Buse Yıldırım (Beykoz Kundura), Nilüfer Şaşmazer (Arter), and Yeşim Gürer Oymak (Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts ) took part in the Momentum Türkiye delegation programme (12–16 August 2024).
- Murat Daltaban (DOT Theatre) attended the Edinburgh Theatre and Dance Showcase (18–24 August 2024).
Expanding Connections: Other UK Festival Engagements
To further support Türkiye–Scotland artistic collaboration:
Sonica Glasgow is an international biennial arts festival focusing on audio-visual, sound and digital arts, presented across multiple venues in Glasgow since 1994. In September 2024, Hande Şekerciler and Arda Yalkın from ha:ar travelled to Glasgow to attend SONICA 2024. Following this delegation visit, SONICA Istanbul was held at Babylon between 1–4 October 2025, realised through a collaboration between Cryptic and ha:ar.
Celtic Connections, the largest roots music festival in Europe and the UK's most established celebration of world, traditional and folk music, takes place in Glasgow during January each year. British Council Scotland works with the festival to raise its international profile, ambition, and reach. Since 2000, British Council Scotland and Creative Scotland have run Showcase Scotland, a six-day programme which introduces international delegates to the Scottish music sector.
Celtic Connections 2025: Türkiye Delegation
To further support Türkiye–Scotland artistic collaboration, Aydın Dorsay and Kerem Gökbuget (Borusan Sanat), along with Defne Turaç and Zuhal Üreten (İşbank Sanat), attended Celtic Connections in Glasgow as part of a British Council-supported delegation programme in January 2025. Following this visit, they established strong and lasting relationships within the Scottish music sector.
Celtic Connections 2026: Türkiye Delegation
Between 21–25 January 2026, Filiz Ova and Levent Dokuzer from Zorlu PSM, together with Efruz Çakırkaya from the İKSV Music Festival, will attend Celtic Connections as the British Council Türkiye delegation. The visit aims to deepen their understanding of the Scottish music scene and to foster meaningful connections with music professionals from Scotland and around the world.