Cultural Policy and Management Centre (KPY) opened officially on 20th October, 2010 at Istanbul Bilgi University. KPY sets out to be one of the first research centres in Turkey in the field of cultural policy and cultural management. It aims to address the fast changing cultural scene in Turkey, to be a hub for academic exchange and excellence, to develop research-based policy advice, and to function as an observatory of cultural trends. Established by Istanbul Bilgi University, KPY works in close cooperation with the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), and Anadolu Kültür. The launch of KPY was supported by , Social Transformation Program (MATRA) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands* through a joint project between the Bilgi University,Anadolu Kültür, ECF and the Boekman Foundation.
We asked Associate Professor Dr. Serhan Ada** (Department of Cultural Management, Istanbul Bilgi University) and Associate Professor Asu Aksoy*** (Director of the Cultural Policy and Management Research Centre) about their visions, strategy and operations related to the new Centre.
What are the main goals of the Centre?
KPY will aim to provide research grounding for policy recommendations in the cultural field in Turkey. The range of issues that we are discussing here in Turkey in the cultural policy field is widening. We have been discussing the implications of the opening up of Turkish society to global trends and how this process have quickened the release of the official hold over the cultural identity of the nation. Since the liberalisation of the broadcasting regime in the 1990s, the logic of statist dirigisme has been left behind with an astounding pluralisation of the media scene. Cultural voices in all their multiplicity and divergence are out there using all the channels of the cultural industries. This being the case, it seems especially crucial today, to install regulations that safeguard and deepen this cultural pluralism. However, parallel to the enlargement of our cultural references and representations, we also find expression of intolerance towards diversity and difference going unchallenged and not dealt with. There is a danger that intolerance could become part of our routine everyday life, unless such measures like anti-discrimination laws are put in place. Cultural diversity therefore, is one of our primary areas of work at KPY. Hence, we did our opening on the 20th of October, to coincide with the fifth Anniversary of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). We find that engagement of cultural operators on a transnational basis is a priority today in the context of rising intolerance.
Apart from working towards achieving an atmosphere of cultural pluralism and diversity, we also need to highlight that the continuation of a diversified art and culture scene requires the sustainability of cultural producers from very different walks of life. In order not to be only surrounded by the products of the mass culture industry, we need to support those cultural and artistic activities that are not necessarily commercial or mainstream. In short, we need to put the subsidized arts issue at the heart of our cultural policy thinking, perhaps more urgently than we think. This is an issue for KPY in Turkey but a common one across Europe as arts budgets are being slashed across the continent. It is crucial for us that we become part of the discussions in Europe. We need the experience of culture NGOs in making our case for the value of arts and culture.
The more cultural operators build long-lasting and productive relationships across territories, the more cultural institutions are strengthened. This is the right foundation to then make a case for the value of culture. It is our belief that cooperation and partnerships open minds and enhance creativity. As KPY, we are gearing ourselves to facilitate such cooperation culture to develop in Turkey. Through our training programs, joint project work and publications, we aim to create a network of cultural operators, NGOs and institutions within Turkey but also beyond, connecting to our neighboring countries and to places where similar concerns are increasingly being voiced.
Do you already have a concrete project to start with?
We are going to work on our publication ‘KPY Yearbook’ with an aim to turn it into a truly pan-regional thinking and exchange platform for cultural institutions and operators in Turkey, in the neighbouring countries, and in places where we are debating similar issues.
How the idea of establishing the Centre was born? What kind of needs this Centre covers?
The Centre was founded de facto before its official foundation. Two major developments took place:
One of these developments was the establishment of santralistanbul, a center of attraction at the intersection of art, culture and education, converted by restoration and renovation from an industrial heritage site. One of the most important components of santralistanbul’s mission was to be a key player to play a role in the production of art and regeneration of culture together with the neighbours of Turkey.
With the same perspective, the other development was the establishment of the Cultural Management Department at Istanbul Bilgi University - first at undergraduate level and then at graduate level. One of the distinguishing characteristics of our MA programme is that we invite cultural operators and thinkers from Europe to teach in a modular form. We set out from the very beginning to be an open resource centre as well, investing in the research library on cultural policy issues. Another important aspect of our teaching programme is that we work very closely with cultural professionals, artists. KPY benefits from this already existing network of connections with the arts world both locally and internationally. KPY will have to find ways of keeping these connections alive, to become a centre of reflection, research and advocacy.
The Centre has been organizing various activities and projects since 2007, at the intersection of these two developments. In this respect, a significant activity was the international round-table discussion, bringing cultural actors from the contemporary culture and arts scene from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to analyze and interpret the cultural sectors in these regional neighbors of Turkey, and the book entitled Emerging Cultural Continent as the outcome of this event.
Who are your key partners and stakeholders in this endeavour?
İstanbul Bilgi University (BİLGİ), together with Anadolu Kültür (AK), the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Art (IKSV) and its European partners, the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) and the Boekman Foundation both in Amsterdam, have been spearheading local cultural policy initiatives in Turkey for the past five years. What started with the first national conference on cultural policy in İstanbul in November 2004 and over the years continued with local cultural policy analysis and round-table meetings in several cities across Anatolia, ‘training of trainers’ programmes, the first ever publication providing an ‘Introduction to Turkish Cultural Policy’ (ed. Ada, İnce, 2009).
Locally our key partner is Anadolu Kültür. We have already established collaborations with many actors in the field, such as Istanbul Foundation for Arts and Culture (İKSV). In Europe we are in partnership with European Cultural Foundation (ECF) and we develop and execute projects together. In our work, we are looking for developing working relationship with our cultural ministry, with local authorities, and also with cultural organizations in cities across Turkey. Our aim is to develop KPY as a hub for cultural operators across the wide region and for this purpose we shall be investing resources in publishing in more than one language, in networking, joint projects and training activities.
Serhan, you recently wrote an article on Turkish cultural policy titled “For a New Cultural Policy” in the Introduction to Cultural Policy in Turkey (a publication of Istanbul Bilgi University, October 2009). Could you share your main conclusion as a result of the research?
First of all, I find the title very important: “For A New Cultural Policy”. Turkey is currently in the process of putting in written its cultural policy.
The beginning of the cultural policy discussions in Turkey has occurred concurrently with EU membership becoming a serious option in the programs of governments of different political tendencies. It seems to me though that it is very important in this respect to look at Istanbul European Capitals of Culture 2010. The lessons of the process will shed a substantial light on the making and implementation of cultural policy in general. In fact, the preparation process for 2010 will present a more decisive conceptual framework than the realization of 2010 itself. The cultural value that can be created in dialogue and discussion between the private and the public sector, the civil society and the public officials, the third sector and the local administration, which have always had distinct political inclinations, should be closely examined.
On the other hand, local cultural policy projects can provide creative clues for national cultural policy in a country such as Turkey which shows a rich cultural variety. And a new cultural policy project in Turkey will inevitably bring up the democracy debate.
In a country where the state, as the sole representative of the nation, has been playing the role of the cultural selector, it is not only difficult but also necessary to have a debate in which different sectors participate. A new cultural policy will be able to contribute to democracy to the extent that it reflects a political consensus. For that reason, one must take into consideration the debates around Istanbul 2010, the development perspectives of cultural industries, the difficulties including oligopolized media and television in cultural policy in Turkey, and many other important factors.
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** Serhan Ada, is the head of the Cultural Management (BA & MA) Program of Istanbul Bilgi University and the founding Director of santralistanbul, an international center for arts, culture, converted from the Silahtarağa Power Plant, the first urban-scale power plant of the Ottoman Empire. Ada, is one of the editors of the publication the first book on the Turkish cultural policy “Introduction to Cultural Policies in Turkey”, 2009 and the periodical “Cultural Policy and Management Yearbook”, 2009. He is one of the project leaders of the Independent Cultural Policy Report of Turkey working group, focusing on the cultural policy of Turkey which will be an alternative to the National Report.
*** Asu Aksoy has been one of the members of the Initiative Group that prepared the bid document of Istanbul 2010 and then developed the masterplan of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture. She has worked as the International Projects coordinator at santralistanbul after coming to Istanbul from London where she had been working as a research fellow at Goldsmiths College London. She is a lecturer at the Cultural Management Program of Istanbul Bilgi University. She is presently in charge of a research project on cultural mapping of Istanbul, titled İstanbul 2010 Cultural Heritage and Cultural Economy Mapping Project. She is one of the curators of the 5th International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam taking place in 2012. She has published articles on migration and cultural identity in Europe, within the context of transnational mobility, on cultural transformation in Turkey, with specific focus on urban culture in Istanbul. Asu Aksoy is the Director of KPY, founding member of Europa Nostra Turkey Association, and Human Settlements Association.
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cultural policy research, kpy, turkey
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