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the European Union

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TR

The Theatre Foundation of Turkey Infrastructure  Reinforcement Project  

March 2022 - March 2023
ISTANBUL

The Theatre Foundation of Turkey is dedicated to the art of theatre, which forges its own cultural heritage through traditional or contemporary production methods, spaces and multi linguistic and multicultural history. The Foundation works towards preserving this disappearing cultural heritage of theatre in Turkey, highlighting the role our theatre plays in reflecting our cultural diversity, and transferring its cultural expertise to future generations in a way that will foster knowledge production and sharing.

As the only institution with a mission to preserve the theatre heritage in Turkey, the newly founded Theatre Foundation of Turkey prioritises the configuration of a credible and self-sustaining organisational structure that is upheld as an authority within its area of operation. In this vein, the Foundation endeavours to provide good examples for the resolution of the issue at hand, and aims to facilitate the formation of new structures and collaborations that could come up with potential solutions.

As part of the Theatre Foundation of Turkey Infrastructure Reinforcement Project, necessary infrastructure was built in three designated areas: Archival Works, Oral History and Theatre Library. This ensured the continuation of work in these areas and the sustainability of the Foundation’s ongoing efforts. This grant provided the necessary physical and technological equipment that was previously supplied by volunteers and with limited resources. It also helped the team working in these three areas to capacity build, and contributed to foster new collaborations and distinctive new projects.

Theatre Foundation of Turkey archive studies
Photograph: Berkay Gülüm

Theatre Foundation of Turkey

Founded as a civil initiative in 2018, the Theatre Foundation of Turkey was officially established in 2019 in Istanbul by a group of theatre professionals and academics. The main objective of the foundation is to preserve the long-established and widely accepted theatre heritage crucial for a collective cultural memory, to compile the theatre archive of Turkey in a comprehensive and holistic manner to prepare grounds for knowledge production and sharing, and, eventually,  to lay the foundations of a permanent Turkey Theatre Museum and Research Centre.

This page is published on 2 March 2022.
Last update: 4 March 2022