We want to implement a project of which you will see a summary below, with our partners for Civil Society Dialogue with Culture and Art program.
We are a non-governmental organization which is established to make educational and cultural activities and we make studies in this direction since then. We have also branch offices in Istanbul and Antalya along with Van province where we want to implement our project.
Our project is supported by Municipalities of Van and ERCIS, Governor of ERCIS, Van Province Directorate of Culture, and Municipality of Van, Governor of Van, surrounding municipalities and many other non-governmental organizations.
We are waiting for contributions of Non-Governmental Organizations of European Countries to our project as partners.
THE LEGEND CITY ‘VAN’
BACKGROUND:
Van province is located in the east of Turkey, on the shores of Lake Van which is the biggest closed basin of the country. As for its geographical position, during its historical period, Van has hosted many civilizations and is a very rich country in terms of cultural heritage. According to the archeological researches, the prehistoric ages of Van province go back to the early B.C. 5000-3000 Calcolithic Period. Throughout history, many civilizations like Hurrians, Urartu, Assyria, Medes, Persian Empire, Macedonians, Parthia, Romans, Sassanid Empire and Byzantine Empire maintained their lives in Van lands. With its historical tissue and cultural values, Van is one of the richest cities of East Anatolian Region of Turkey and succeeded to protect its heritage.
One of the heritages that the city has is; its legends. The legends form almost all the basis of the city’s history from its name to the historical artifacts. Van province managed to create a whole by transferring the legends from generation to generation. It’s important to protect, share and contribute to the sustainability of the cultural heritage in order to develop dialogues with other cultures and establish collaborations. Thus, examining, searching and contributing to the sustainability of the legends carry great importance in terms of protecting the culture and transferring it to the next generations.
OBJECTIVES:
The general objective of the project is to develop the intercultural dialogue, to increase sharing of the cultural heritage and to spread the cultural heritage by means of culture – arts.
Specific objectives of the project::
1. To contribute to searching, examining and archiving the existing legends in cultural and social terms by means of the project’s training and research thematic activities.
2. To increase the cultural awareness of Van people
3. To contribute to creating dialogues with Europe with the help of the common and similar legends.
4. To make Van people available to interpret the historical period in terms of the legends by means of various culture-arts activities of the project and to contribute to encouraging their artistic creativeness.
PROJECT DURATION: 15 Months
ACTIVITIES:
A. CONFERENCE
The main activity of the project will be a well-rounded conference organization which will take place in Van. The organization will be in theme of the legends and there will be various professions about the legends. In the scope of the conference, various seminars and workshops contented of legends and cultural heritages will be arranged. On the other hand, some activities under the title of ‘’Legend Days’’ will be arranged for the children in order to keep the legends alive, to transfer them to young generation and to contribute to improving their personal development.
B. ARTISTIC ACTIVITIES
Another activity of the project will be the studies to develop the cultural and artistic perspective about the legends. In the scope of this activity, various painting workshops will be made in collaboration with the universities and fantastic show animating the legends will be made on the important points of the city; city entry, center and places visible and close to the education areas like school and university.
Another activity will be ethnical entertainment nights in which there will be participants from European folks. In these nights, there will be musicals, folkloric and ethnical performances typical to various European cultures and there will be traditional minstrels of Van Region. This tradition of minstrels is another richness of Van province culturally and Van people still carry on this tradition as a part of their lives. It will be paid strict attention to the concept to have a historical background and legends focusing on the cultural heritage. In the scope of this activity, the events will be made in the areas where broader participation will be provided.
C. MAKING OF SHORT DOCUMENTARY
Another main activity of the project is making of a short documentary. According to this, a documentary of 30 – 45 minutes will be made and dwindling numbers of the legend tellers and the legends which are examples of verbal history will be recorded. As a result of this activity, the documentary will be shown in Turkey and various European countries.
CONCRETE OUTPUTS:
1. Short documentary
2. Documents and archives obtained from conference and seminars/workshops
3. Art exhibitions obtained from the workshops
4. Intercultural communication network
ARİF AGAS
In the name of VAN CULTURE AND SOLIDARITY FOUNDATION
Email: arifagas@hotmail.com