Turkish-German Co-Production Scholarships

Kulturakademie Tarabya

Few societies have such a varied and intensive exchange as the Turkish and German ones. This is particularly true of cultural relations. The German art scene is very much shaped by biographies that are linked to Turkey.  At the same time, Istanbul has become a place of longing for artists* from Germany. The Tarbaya Kulturakademie (Academy of Culture), located in historic buildings on the banks of the Bosporus, is symbolic of this. Since 2012, the Academy has been awarding residencies for cultural practitioners from Germany. It has become an outstanding focal point of the pluralistic Turkish-German cultural dialogue. 

In order to deepen this dialogue - especially in times of uncertainty - and to genuinely render it as an exchange of equals, the Allianz Cultural Foundation will be funding co-production scholarships at the Tarabya Kulturakademie for an initial period of three years starting in 2021. The scholarships are aimed at artists from Turkey who are working in tandem with partners from Germany. In this way, the Allianz Cultural Foundation aims to strengthen artistic freedom and exchange in Turkish-German cultural cooperation. The scholarships of the German co-production partners are provided by the Goethe Institute. The project will be realized in cooperation with the Goethe Institute and the German Foreign Office.

The Kulturakademie Tarabya will announce the co-production scholarships for the first time in October 2020, for stays in Istanbul between October 2021 and September 2022. Both tandem partners will each receive a monthly scholarship in cash to realise their joint artistic project. The tandems will be integrated into the activities of the residency programme. Applications are made through the Tarabya Cultural Academy. Further information about the Academy and the application procedure (in German and Turkish) can be found on the homepage  of the Kulturakademie Tarabya. 

The Kulturakademie Tarabya was founded in 2012 on the initiative of the German Bundestag (German Federal Parliament) and enables an artistic exchange between Turkey and Germany. It is located on the grounds of the Historical Summer Residence of the German Ambassador in Tarabya, on the European side of Istanbul, about 15 km north of the city centre. The Kulturakademie is run by the German Embassy in Ankara and is part of the cultural work of the German Embassy in Turkey. The Goethe-Institut bears the curatorial responsibility for the Cultural Academy of Tarabya. So far, a total of around 100 cultural practitioners have been supported, including the musician Cymin Samawathie, the visual artist Nevin Aladag and the author David Wagner. 

Jury and Advisory Board

The five members of the current jury include the filmmaker and director Feo Aladag (chair), the director of the Museum Ludwig in Cologne Yilmaz Dziewior, the Islamic scholar and journalist Rainer Hermann, the jazz pianist and composer Julia Hülsmann and the managing director of the Allianz Kulturstiftung Esra Küçük. The jury was appointed by the advisory board of the Kulturakademie. The advisory board consists of representatives of all parties of the German Bundestag, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut. The Academy Advisory Board also advises on the conceptual guidelines for the Kulturakademie.