In the second open call of Ortaklaşa: Culture, Dialogue and Support Programme, launched in 2023 by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) with the support of the European Union, 10 projects have been selected. The selected projects span various artistic disciplines and aim to contributing to the development of local cultural policies within their regions. This selection concludes the Ortaklaşa Grant Programme, which had a total budget of 1.3 million euros.
Two open calls for proposals, with a total budget of 1.3 million euros, have been concluded within the scope of the Ortaklaşa: Culture, Dialogue and Support Programme. The programme aims to improve dialogue and cooperation between civil society organisations active in the fields of culture and arts, and municipalities in Türkiye.
For the second call of the Ortaklaşa Grant Programme, held from 4 April to 4 June 2024, a total of 131 project applications were received from 35 cities across seven regions of Türkiye. These applications included partnerships with 16 metropolitan, 13 provincial, 75 district and two town municipalities. Following an evaluation by the Committee, based on the criteria outlined in the grant application guide, 10 projects were selected for funding.
The selected projects involve civil society organisations working in culture and arts from Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Gaziantep, Hatay, İstanbul, İzmir, Rize and Sinop, collaborating with municipalities in Adıyaman, Ataşehir, Balıkesir, Defne, Gaziantep, Hopa, Konak, Küçükkuyu, Maltepe, Marmara Islands, Merzifon, Ortahisar and Şişli. Approximately 1 million euros will be allocated to support 10 projects selected in this second call.
The first call of the Ortaklaşa Grant Programme was launched in April 2023, resulting in the support of four projects.
Selected projects in the second round of the Ortaklaşa Grant Programme
Bir Tohum Vakfı (One Seed Foundation, Çanakkale) – City of Culture, Küçükkuyu
Project Partner: Küçükkuyu Municipality (Çanakkale)
The project to be carried out by Bir Tohum Foundation aims to develop the cultural and artistic capacity of Küçükkuyu, a town that stands out with its richness of tangible and intangible cultural heritage and cultural diversity, through public events held in different fields. While emphasising participation and ecological awareness, the project focuses on empowering inhabitants to have access to culture and creating an identity that will create a sense of belonging to the city. It is planned to re-function and revive idle or dysfunctional public spaces, to contribute to improve cultural literacy and to position Küçükkuyu as a “city of culture” on the axis of İzmir, Balıkesir, Lesbos, Çanakkale and Istanbul within the scope of the cultural policy to be developed jointly with Küçükkuyu Municipality at the end of the project.
Darağaç Kolektifi Derneği (Darağaç Collective Association, İzmir) – Darağaç Fermentation
Project Partner: Konak Municipality (İzmir)
Darağaç Collective Association‘s project focuses on issues such as the lack of workshop and experience spaces for young artists and designers, the challenge that lies before ideas and projects that can contribute to urban life to meet with their audience, overcoming the communication problems between local authorities and civil society organisations that exist both within themselves and with each other, and proposing concrete solutions. Within the scope of the project, it is planned to transform an abandoned building located in the Umurbey neighborhood of İzmir into a community kitchen space called “Darağaç Mutfak”, to redefine the street where Konak Municipality Modern Art Centre is located with the name “Darağaç X Ko.Mo.” with the contribution of 12 recently graduated artists and designers from four universities of the city and to host interdisciplinary productions with the exhibition “Darağaç Fermentation”.
Galimi Çınarlı Kırsal Kalkınma ve Turizm Derneği (Rural Development and Tourism Association, Balıkesir) – Marmara Islands Culture and Art Axis
Project Partners: Marmara Islands Municipality (Balıkesir), Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality
The project by Galimi Çınarlı Rural Development and Tourism Association aims to support a participatory, inclusive and democratic structure for the local culture and arts ecosystem formed by municipalities, civil society organisations and individual actors in the region of Marmara, Avşa and Ekinlik islands. As cooperation will be established between civil society organisations and local governments, it is also aimed to keep the synergy permanent that will emerge through with activities such as the commissioning of Çınarlı Culture and Art Campus, improving the capacity of Marmara Islands Museum, cultural policy training and Island Cultures Festival.
Hatay Senfoni Orkestrası Kültür ve Sanat Derneği (Hatay Symphony Orchestra Culture and Art Association, Hatay) – Sprouts of New Life: Hatay Youth and Children’s Orchestra Choir
Project Partner: Defne Municipality (Hatay)
The project, which will be carried out by the Hatay Symphony Orchestra Culture and Art Association, will provide music education to 60 earthquake-affected children in Hatay, enabling them to discover their talents and develop their skills. The project, which aims to include earthquake-affected children in the musical education process by providing the city with a campus where music and art therapy workshops will be held, focuses on establishing an inclusive education system with equal opportunities. At the end of the training programs, which will include children who experience post-earthquake trauma, children with disabilities, refugee children and other disadvantaged groups, concerts will take place, which will also contribute to the right of urbanites to access culture and arts.
Hemşin Yaşam Derneği (Hemşin Life Association, Rize) – Nazım’dan Kazım’a Ortaklaşa Hopa
Project Partners: Hopa Municipality (Artvin), Hopa Right to the City Association (Artvin)
The project of Hemşin Life Association aims to support the initiation process of participatory and inclusive cultural policies by improving the dialogue between civil society organisations, Hopa Municipality, citizens and artists through the Culture and Art Council, which is being established in Hopa, a multicultural and multilingual Eastern Black Sea district where these cultures and languages coexist together. The project also aims to establish dialogue and consultation mechanisms, communication networks and local platforms that will encourage interaction between all stakeholders to develop participatory cultural policies, and to carry out advocacy activities and training programmes.
Kreşendo (Istanbul) – Venues That Bring Us Together
Project Partners: Ataşehir Municipality (İstanbul), Maltepe Municipality (İstanbul), Şişli Municipality (İstanbul), Roof Coliving (İzmir)
The project by Kreşendo aims to create a guide for the participatory and inclusive execution of the programming and spatial design processes of culture and arts activities in the outdoor and indoor public spaces owned by the municipalities. Each aspect of the cultural programming for the public space is aimed to create a multi-stakeholder programming process by including the experiences of artists, civil society representatives, business owners, and culture and arts actors, as well as the experiences of the neighbourhood and audiences who are the users of these spaces. A cultural programming guide will be designed with the principle of cultural pluralism in relation to three cultural centres and three outdoor public spaces located within the partnering municipalities, prioritizing the needs of vulnerable groups and ensuring their participation. The guide is intended to be a framework for implementation by municipalities at different scales.
Nefes Kültür Sanat Derneği (Nefes Foundation for Arts and Culture, Gaziantep) – Gaziantep Art Space
Project Partner: Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality
The project by Nefes Foundation for Arts and Culture proposes to create a culture and fine arts academy and a communal space in the traditional historical Cenani Mansion located in Gaziantep. It is aimed to create a space for children, youth, academics, students, talented musicians and artists of the future, as well as cultural activists from different backgrounds to be able to learn and share their views and experiences in a safe and flexible environment. Founded by cultural professionals from Syria and Türkiye, the association aims to create a culture and arts space open to all segments of society as a project supporting social solidarity and cohesion.
Sinop Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Derneği (Sinop Sustainable Development Association, Sinop) – Motorhane Culture and Arts Network
Project Partners: Merzifon Municipality (Amasya), Urban.koop Urban Studies Cooperative (Istanbul), ÇEKÜL Foundation (Istanbul)
The project, which will be carried out by Sinop Sustainable Development Association, is planned to transform an old power plant located in Merzifon into a cultural centre; the programmes of the cultural centre will be prepared and implemented together with Merzifon Municipality and a civil network of culture and art actors in the region will be established. While creating a new cultural pivotal centre in Merzifon, which is a town standing out with its economic and cultural heritage from the past to the present, it is aimed to increase collaborations in the field of culture on a regional scale with Amasya and Sinop in the short and medium term with the contributions of the project’s partners Amasya Municipality and Sinop Municipality.
Şehir Dedektifi Kent Çevre ve Sanat Derneği (City Detective Urban Environment and Art Association, Istanbul) – Perre Children and City Biennale
Project Partners: Adıyaman Municipality
City Detective‘s project aims to inform children, caregivers and educators living in Adıyaman about the city’s historical and cultural heritage, and to strengthen urban memory and sense of belonging, which were damaged by the earthquake, through culture and arts. The project also aims to develop the municipality’s workshop space located in Hayat Park, which was established by civil society after the earthquake. The results of the Perre and Adıyaman themed workshops to be established with children will be exhibited in the municipality’s cultural venues through music and theatre performances as part of the Perre Children and City Biennial to take place for 5 days. Adıyaman Municipality’s cultural policy development process will be supported by workshops to be organised with project partners Centre for Spatial Justice and ANAMED, who are experienced in producing information and exhibitions on urban heritage.
Yayla (Gola) Kültür Sanat ve Ekoloji Derneği (Yayla (Gola) Culture, Arts and Ecology Association, Rize) – VİRA: Empowering Eastern Black Sea Cultural Ecosystem
Project Partners: Ortahisar Municipality (Trabzon), Hopa Municipality (Artvin)
The project will be carried out under the coordination of Yayla (Gola) Culture, Art and Ecology Association, which has implemented a participatory and inclusive cultural policy-making process and developed the festival process in partnership with civil society and local governments in the first period of the Ortaklaşa Grant Program in partnership with Borçka Municipality from Artvin. The main objectives of the VİRA project are to create processes that enable civil society inclusion in the cultural policies of municipalities and to engage local governments and civil society culture and arts actors in Artvin, Rize and Trabzon. The project, which will be supported by workshops to analyse the status of the Eastern Black Sea culture and arts ecosystem, will also establish strengthening ties for inclusive collaborations in rural areas.
Ortaklaşa Grant Programme evaluation process
Project proposals submitted to the Ortaklaşa Grant Programme that met the application terms and conditions specified in the grant guidelines were forwarded to the Evaluation Committee following a technical evaluation. The Evaluation Committee comprised Dr. Itır Akdoğan, Research Director of Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation; M. Cemil Arslan, Secretary General of the Marmara Municipalities Union; Yörük Kurtaran, Chairman of the Support Foundation for Civil Society; Mahir Namur, Lecturer in the Cultural Management Programme at Yeditepe University; and Görgün Taner, Lecturer and Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts General Director. To access the evaluation grid, please check Ortaklaşa grant application guide.
