Every European Capital of Culture (ECOC) since the European Union stated the program in 1985 has been proposed, supported or sponsored by a national or local government. During the 23 years of this program, over 30 cities have become Cultural Capitals, but Istanbul’s application is the first to originate from a purely civil initiative.

Inspired by the EU’s decision to expand the ECOC program to non-member European countries from 1999, a group of Turkish NGO representatives met in July 2000 to explore the possibility of formulating an application for Istanbul. This meeting led to an Initiative Group to garner local and national government support for Istanbul’s candidacy.

In March 2005, the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, issued a memorandum backing the Initiative Group and inviting all public bodies and civic organizations to support this effort. As the project expanded, the Initiative Group faced a need for greater coordination and it asked Nuri M. Çolakoğlu to take on the role of General Coordinator. The Prime Ministry approved Mr. Çolakoğlu’s position and appointed an Istanbul parliamentarian, Egemen Bağış, as Chairman of a new Advisory Board for the project. These arrangements allowed the Initiative Group to secure state support while retaining its NGO spirit.

Work started on Istanbul’s application dossier in March 2005. This was a distilling and refining process to yield an overall theme for Istanbul’s tenure as ECOC and to gather project ideas from as great a variety of groups and institutions as possible. After seven months of intensive preparation, the dossier, ‘Istanbul: A City of Four Elements,’ was ready.

Istanbul’s application was delivered to the European Commission Education and Culture General Director Nicolaus van der Pas in December 2005 by a delegation of the Advisory Board Chairman Egemen Bağış, the Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler, the Istanbul Mayor Dr. Kadir Topbaş, the Executive Board Chairman Nuri M. Çolakoğlu, and NGO representatives.

The subsequent presentation to the EU’s Selection Panel, in March 2006, brought all the success the people and organizations in Istanbul were hoping for. In November 2006, all the relevant committees endorsed Istanbul’s candidacy and the city was declared a 2010 European Capital of Culture.


Istanbul 2010 the European Capital of Culture Agency

The Istanbul 2010 project is rooted in the spirit of citywide mobilization and it releases and channels the synergy created by a new participatory management model.

Work accelerated with Istanbul’s confirmation as a Capital of Culture for 2010. It expanded beyond the dedicated hard work of the small number of volunteers that were running the project in the initial stages with input from the national and local authorities. A law to create the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, drafted by the Initiative Group and supported by the Government, cleared Parliament and was adopted on November 2, 2007. The law required that a Coordination Board, Advisory Board, Executive Board, and a General Secretariat to oversee the process be established.

State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazıcı became Coordination Board Chairman, Hüsamettin Kavi became Advisory Board Chairman, Nuri M. Çolakoğlu assumed the post of Executive Board Chairman, and Eyüp Özgüç was appointed the Secretary General of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency.

The European Capital of Culture activities are being carried out along three main axes: Urban Applications, Culture and the Arts, and Tourism and Promotion.
Urban Applications

Istanbul’s location and millennia-old cultural heritage give the city a distinct place among the world’s metropolises.
 
The 21st century will be the century of cities. By revitalizing their identities, promoting their cultures and sharing their heritage, cities are creating a global culture. Urban development is achieved through attaining a level of urbanization and cultural change. Therefore, it is imperative that governments and NGOs are active in this process and that they bring professional expertise to bear on the issues involved. The European Capitals of Culture are a part of this process and they enrich the world through their cultural contributions.

Culture and the Arts

Istanbul’s tenure as a European Capital of Culture will facilitate the city’s (re)discovery of its own cultural roots and enable its inhabitants to understand each other better. Istanbul’s success as a European Capital of Culture depends on the degree to which the city’s inhabitants embrace this project and participate in it. The Capital of Culture project will reach out to the millions living in this metropolis of culture and the arts, and especially to those on the physical or social periphery of the city who lack access to the city’s cultural and artistic richness and facilities.

Tourism and Promotion

Istanbul is set to attract over ten million tourists and earn more than $10 billion in tourism revenues in 2010 through successful promotion of its historical legacy and creative cultural capacity, developing tourism opportunities, improving urban infrastructure, and raising the quality of tourism service. Encouraging tourists and high-income groups to come to Istanbul, extending visitors’ present 2.5-day average length of stay, and raising their per capita expenditure will strengthen the city’s economy.

Istanbul’s cultural fusion is expressed in the motto “A City of Four Elements,” the slogan of the Istanbul 2010 ECOC project. The Four Elements is a philosophical theory developed in Miletus, in modern-day Turkey, by three prominent 6th and 7th-century BC philosophers — Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. These three hypothesized that all things in the physical world were composed of various ratios of earth, air, water and fire. Aristotle (384-322 BC), who spent several years in Western Anatolia, developed this idea into a comprehensive thesis about nature and cause. For nearly two thousand years, Aristotle’s works remained the basis of “Eastern Islamic” scientific and technological advances and then it took on a similar role in “Western Christian” intellectual life up to and beyond the Renaissance.

It is apposite that this theory be applied to Istanbul and to the program of Istanbul 2010.
 
Earth provides the theme for activities during the winter months from 1 January to 20 March, when traditional arts and artistic activities that interpret the city’s historical heritage from various perspectives will be at the forefront.

Air dominates the spring program from 21 March to 21 June. Istanbul’s numerous minarets and church towers piercing the sky provide the inspiration for the spring program, which will focus on the city’s centuries-old dialog between religions and cultures.

Water sets the theme for the summer program, 22 June to 22 September. Straddling the Bosporus and the Golden Horn, Istanbul is divided and united by water, and water has provided the link between the city and the world for millennia. The summer program will concentrate on cultural and arts activities inspired by or made possible by water. Many of these activities will take place on the shores of the Bosporus and the Golden Horn.

Fire, the powerful transformative element, turns water into steam, wood to ashes, and sand to glass. In this sense, fire symbolizes the future of Istanbul. The autumn program 23 September to 31 December will be unified under the theme of fire and the most prominent feature of this period will be contemporary art.

Some Istanbul 2010 ECOC Projects

I. Towards 2010: New Venues
Ayazağa Cultural Center
Under construction since 1995, this facility will have a 2500-seat concert hall, a 950-seat multipurpose hall and meeting rooms and cinemas for 450, making it the largest cultural center in Turkey.

Istanbul Library
The 250-year-old Rami Military Barracks is being handed over to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to be renovated as a public library and cultural center.

Young Art and Design Center
This is a project started in Istanbul and then developed with other European cities, including Istanbul’s sister Capitals of Culture for 2010, Essen and Pécs. The center will serve young Turkish and European artists.

European Culture House (Istanbul 2010 Management Center)
Originally designed as a winter residence for banker Agop Köçeyan in the middle of the 19th century, this building will be restored to its original magnificence for use as a cultural center after 2010.

Sütlüce Culture and Convention Center
The Istanbul Municipality is transforming the historical slaughter house on the Golden Horn into a conference and performance center. When the 73,000 m²center is finished, it will serve Istanbul’s inhabitants with concert halls, exhibition areas, cinemas, theaters, parking lots, shops and congress halls.

II. Towards 2010: Urban Projects
Local Government Project – historical Eminönü peninsula
This project aims to become a model for similar projects in the future. Under the direction of a committee working in conjunction with the Eminönü Municipality, this project was developed under a master plan to set up a pilot architectural design support network to manage transportation, pedestrianization and structural planning in various city districts.

Atatürk Cultural Center Renovation
Opened towards the end of the 1960s, Atatürk Cultural Center is Istanbul’s first major performance center. It is to undergo renovation and reequipping in 2008-2009 to enable it to offer space for a wide range of activities.

Topkapı Palace Museum Restoration
The plan for the conservation of Topkapı Palace Museum building envisages a major architectural reorganization including renovation of the depot and revamping of the display sections.

Preservation of Istanbul’s City Walls and Fortifications
Istanbul’s city walls are one of the world’s most important archeological treasures. The master plan entails the preservation and promotion of the walls through research, documentation and creative methods abiding by UNESCO guidelines.

Haghia Sophia Museum Restoration
The archeological area in the precincts of Haghia Sophia is currently undergoing restoration so it can contribute to Istanbul’s arts, cultural, and tourism programs in the lead up to 2010.
   
Kumkapı Urban Rehabilitation and Local Development Project
Istanbul’s Kumkapı district, a neighborhood of small workshops on the European side, is a valuable legacy of the 19th and 20th centuries. Sympathetic renovation is planned to meet the needs of the local people and enhance the district’s tourism potential.


Istanbul Open Spaces Project
This is a planning and design project to create open spaces in specific city districts, with priority being given to Eminönü and Karaköy on the European side of the city.

III. Towards 2010: Museums and Cultural Legacy
Yenikapı Museum / Istanbul City Museum — “Yellow Helmet Tours”
The geological finds and archeological relics (of a port, a jetty, numerous ships, and various articles) unearthed during excavations in the Yenikapı district will be displayed in a specially organized City Archeological Museum and Archeological Park. Until a museum to house these finds is built, the district will be opened to controlled excursions through a program entitled “Yellow Helmet Tours”.

A Modern Approach to Museum Curatorship: the Archeological Museum
This project will use novel approaches in modern museum curatorship and new techniques and methods to redesign the way objects are exhibited and, by doing so, transform the Archeological Museum into an Imperial Museum.

Topkapı Palace Museum: Renovation of the Kitchen, Weapons and Textiles Sections
This project involves a root and branch improvement and transformation of the Topkapı Palace Museum right from the level of museological infrastructure, down to display arrangement, administrative mechanism, visitor management, financial management, education, communications and publicity.

Interactive Visuals at Haghia Sophia and the Chora Museum
Large pictures and interactive screens to be placed at ground level in Haghia Sophia and the Chora Museum will enable visitors to appreciate the exquisite detail of mosaics, frescos and calligraphy on their domes, which are too far above to be seen in detail.

Haghia Irene Holy Relics and Icon Museum
The icon collections and holy relics belonging to various religions, currently housed in the Haghia Sophia depots, will be prepared for exhibition in the atrium and galleries of Haghia Irene. A large exhibition of these and similar collections brought from abroad will be held in 2010.

Biosphore (Natural Science Center)
The aim of the Natural Science Center established at Saint Joseph High School is to provide both permanent and periodic exhibitions in zoology, seismology, botany, the environment, geology, space, and genetics.

Mimar Sinan Museum
This museum is being created under the leadership of the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts to house information and documents pertaining to the Ottoman Empire’s most renowned architect Sinan for collection and interactive display. Now in development, it is hoped that the General Office of Foundations will allow the museum to occupy one of Sinan’s architectural works.

   
Istanbul Museum of Art and Sculpture — Virtual Museum
This project will undertake a comprehensive renovation of the museum using the very latest methods and concepts of curatorship. Information about the objects in the museum’s collection will be transferred to a database and a virtual museum established to broaden access to the collection.

IV. Towards 2010: City Culture
GePGeNç FeSTiVaL (Youth Festival)
Istanbul’s annual GePGeNç youth festival is a venue for the youth of Europe. It is a cooperative venture of about 200 youth organizations from Turkey, Europe and the Mediterranean region who meet throughout the year to plan the event, which hosts 10,000 visitors.

Culture Ants March to 2010
A unique educational program to enable 6th graders (called Culture Ants by the project) to develop cultural values and gain an understanding of the cultural and historical fabric of Istanbul is being carried out under the Istanbul 2010 program and with the support of volunteers.

Istanbul 2010 Volunteers
A European Capital of Culture Volunteer Program was started in 2008. It was established to enhance the enthusiasm and participation of young people in the 2010 process, and to encourage them to help with 2010 activities.

Making the City Obstacle Free to the Handicapped
Special seminars and consciousness-raising meetings are being held to promote making the city free of obstacles for the handicapped.

Step-by-Step (Tourism and Culture)
Specially designated areas where Istanbul’s many amateur athletes can swim, walk and play sports have been prepared and publicized.

High School Students Participate in 2010
This youth project brings high school students from Istanbul’s schools and neighborhoods together and encourages them to prepare cultural projects for Istanbul 2010.

V. Towards 2010: Visual Arts

Living and Working in Istanbul
Ten artists from EU countries who have made a name for themselves in visual arts and contributed to the expansion of universal art, have been invited to Istanbul to learn about living, working and producing in the city.

Portable Art
Between 2008 and 2010, activities that encourage young artists will tour Istanbul’s 32 districts. The scheme will raise awareness of culture and the arts, encourage creativity, and offer professional assistance in developing the arts and cultural infrastructure of local government through approximately 20 projects.

Supporting Participation in Istanbul’s Art and International Fairs
This project aims to enrich and diversify art fairs held in Istanbul, raising them to an international level, while making them accessible to low-income groups.

Arts and Culture Forums
The objective of these art and culture forums (open forums, symposiums, conferences, working groups) is to consider the Istanbul 2010 project holistically and to provide consultancy services to it and the organizations affiliated with it.

Fine Arts in Anatolia
This will develop the fine arts departments of Anatolian universities despite their limited resources, and establish a bridge between Istanbul, as a center of the arts, and Anatolia.

ULİSfotoFEST – International Photography Festival
This is a festival to gather people from all corners of the globe by using traditional and modern photography. This festival, using the universal language of the photography and avoiding any kind of discrimination or prejudice, will lay a foundation for communication and friendship between people from different countries and cultures.

VI. Towards 2010: Music and Opera

On the Way to 2010
Every year up to 2010, free concerts will be held on open-air stages in various parts of the city. The goal is to bring culture and art to people in places where they are a rare commodity, and to create enthusiasm for Istanbul 2010. Performances will encompass all kinds of music, including classical music, fasıl, jazz, and Turkish folk music.

History and Music Join Arms
Istanbul is the only European city where musical events come to a halt to a great extent after the summer festivals. As of 2008, however, the first steps will be taken to meet the musical needs of a Capital of Culture by giving mini concerts at such tourist attractions as the Archeological Museum and the Ahmet III Fountain.

For Youth with Youth
A series of concerts designed to debunk the elitist image of classical music will be given through classic music performances that resemble pop music concerts, showing that the universal values this music expresses belong to everyone.

Istanbul 2010 "National Team" Youth Symphony Orchestra
This program will gradually transform into a young professional orchestra functioning at the highest international level inside and outside Turkey, providing employment opportunities to young professionals. It is the laboratory and transmitter of new works created for 2010.



Modern Musical Theater Festival
New operas reflecting the potential of Istanbul will be staged by young artists employing techniques to raise the musical and theatrical expectations of artists and audiences.

Trans-frontier Musical Instruments
This project traces the development of the West’s most popular musical instruments that have origins in the East. The project’s activities will bring instruments of the past and the present together to perform classical, traditional, jazz and pop/rock music. Ud concertos, the Eastern impact on the West through the guitar, and other revelations are promised.
 
The 29th Parallel
This project will demonstrate the various playing styles that have developed for the ud, a popular traditional musical instrument in Turkey, Egypt and Syria.

A Witness to History: Music
This is a series of concerts reflecting the influence of European civilizations in and on Istanbul.

VII. Towards 2010: Performance and Theater Arts

The 2008 Istanbul – 2009 Turkey – 2010 European Universities Theater Festivals
The first leg of the project, the 2008 Istanbul Universities Theater Festival, was held between 21-30 April. Twenty-three groups from 17 universities performed on stage in rotation for ten days and attended colloquia and workshops. All this will be expanded in 2009 and 2010, first with the Turkish Universities Theater Festival and then with the European Universities Theater Festival. Similar events will continue after 2010 and they will enhance the development of culture and the arts in Turkey, and contribute greatly to making Istanbul a center for international university theater.

Contacting the World
The basic goals of the Contacting the World project, inaugurated by Liverpool as the 2008 European Capital of Culture, is to create an atmosphere of change among young artists of all disciplines, to reach a common language for the arts, and contribute to the development of a living world culture in a context of peace and that encourages learning about each other’s cultures.

Theater and Education Reform Symposium
A Reorganization and Education in Theater symposium will be held during the third week of October 2008. It will attract participants from the Turkish ministries and such foreign cultural and art institutions as the Arts Council, Culture Français, Ente Teatrale Italiano, and the Goethe Institute, as well as important foreign theater directors, and private theater directors and lawyers specialized in the legal issues involved.

Tradition Opens the Curtain to the Future — Istanbul Theater Map
Istanbul theaters are literally all over the map. Historically, they have operated in a great number of neighborhoods. Work is to start in November 2008 on theater buildings and archives to prepare a history of this art form and an assessment of the present condition of these buildings.

International Ballet Contest
This contest will provide the opportunity for young dancers at the start of their professional lives to prove themselves on an international platform. Domestic and foreign ballet dancers will benefit from evaluations and guidance.

Promethiade
The world premiere of the play “The Freedom of Prometheus” will be staged in 2010 at the Yedikule Zindanları (or Haghia Irene) during the Theater Festival in Istanbul. The second stop on the journey of the play will be a performance at the Epidaurus Ancient Theater in Greece. Its final stops will be Essen and Zollverein.

Amber — Art and Technology Platform
Amber aims to institutionalize the mechanics of holding arts festivals. The Amber project will be an important step towards the creation of an Istanbul-centered art and technology network that will stretch East and West.

VIII. Towards 2010: Literature

Novel-writing Contest
This contest will encourage internationally renowned authors to write novels on Istanbul. Entrants’ work will be accepted in English, but those pieces the jury selects as worthy of publication will be published in various languages.

Map of Literary Istanbul
Important literary figures will be commemorated with street renamings and plaques recording their places of birth, life, or death.

Composition Contest
Composition contests for university, junior and senior high school students will award contestants according to the genre and style they employ. Those worthy of publication will be included in anthologies.

The Epic of Istanbul
This project is to encourage authors from cities that have been or will be European Capitals of Culture, to write pieces on Istanbul covering various periods. Each work is to be published in two languages — that of the author and Turkish.

İstanbulum (My Istanbul)
The project will collect works on Istanbul by 40 Istanbul authors who have lived for 40 or more years in the city. These works, to be stories of the authors’ neighborhoods and the authors’ lives, and will be published as a collection.

Frankfurt Book Fair: Support for 2010 Special Activities
Turkey will be the country of honor at the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair. This provides an opportunity to hold a series of activities, including discussions with Turkish authors, workshops, and open seminars about the Istanbul 2010 ECOC Master Plan. An eye-catching stand will be used and books published especially for this fair will be available.


IX. Towards 2010: Film-Documentary-Animation

The Istanbul as Cinema Backdrop
This is a book that examines how Istanbul has been used as background and to drive plot by Turkish and foreign screenwriters. Carefully selected stills from many films will comprise the documentary. Rather than necessarily depicting well-known scenes from these films, the stills selected will hold Istanbul center stage.

10 Istanbul
Ten foreign directors will be invited to Istanbul to live and breathe in the city before making short films with their own crews about a neighborhood. These shorts will be edited into a full-length film for showing at the opening of the 2010 Istanbul Film Festival.
 
Istanbul in Turkish Cinema
Ever since the famous screenwriter Safa Önal began making films, Istanbul has been used as a film set. Over time, the history and the lifestyle of the city have been chronicled in films and its changes highlighted. This project will pull together a film chronicle of Istanbul that will itself assume a place in the cinematographic history.

Imagining Istanbul as an Open-Air Studio
Using Istanbul as an open-air stage, the project will make inroads into world cinema and it will also become an important means of promoting the city.

2010 TV Documentaries
Istanbul 2010 will benefit from a television documentary broadcast slot, “Towards 2010 through Documentaries”, to run throughout 2009.