57 American middle and high school teachers from across the United States have been selected to visit Turkey on the TCF Teacher Study Tours this summer. Traveling in two groups, the teachers will participate in a 14-day tours organized and sponsored by TCF. Thus far, TCF's Teacher Study Tours have taken 291 American educators to Turkey.

The TCF Istanbul Lecture Program hosted two lectures in May. Dr. Gonul Tekin, Director of the Ottoman Studies Foundation, spoke on "The Relation between the Motifs of Ascent to Heaven in Turkish Literature and Sumer Mythology" and Dr. Scott Redford, Director of the Koc University Research Center on Anatolian Civilizations, presented a lecture on "Seljuk Royal Women."

In June, TCF Istanbul will feature special lectures by Dr. Recep Karadag, TCF Consultant and Head of TCF Natural Dye Research and Development Laboratory - DATU. Dr. Karadag will speak on June 2 (in Turkish) and June 6 (in English) on "Dye Analysis and Reproduction of 16th Century Ottoman Brocades". The Istanbul Lecture program and videos of past lectures can be viewed online at the TCF website.

 

A TCF grant was awarded to the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica to support a joint exhibition of Turkish and American modern artists. The exhibition, titled "Los Angeles Istanbul Connection" will feature five Turkish and five Los Angeles based artists and is on view through May 30.

Another TCF grant was awarded to Floating World Projects to underwrite a collaborative residency for Turkish visual artists at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. The program has been organized as part of a collaborative partnership between seven visual artists from Turkey and the United States as well as a partnership between the Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. This residency will be a counterpart to a residency that was hosted by the Mimar Sinan University in June 2010. The final product of the artists’ works will be exhibited at different venues in the U.S. and in Istanbul.

TCF also provided a travel grant to Suzan Bayraktaroglu, Art Historian at the Turkish General Directorate for Foundations to present a paper on "Collections of Tradition and Faith" at the 14th International Congress on Turkish Art in Paris.

 

18 Turkish artists, who have participated at the TCF-sponsored exhibitions at the Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA) shows in Chicago and New York over the years, will present their works at the opening of the Armaggan Gallery in Nuruosmaniye, Istanbul. The exhibition will feature 70 works of art by the artists.

 

House of Turkey, a Turkish American association that organizes Turkish cultural events in Balboa Park, San Diego, the largest urban cultural park in the United States, will introduce Turkish food and hospitality to visitors during the Annual Ethnic Food Fair on May 29. This event, as well as other year-around Turkish cultural events by House of Turkey is funded by a major TCF grant.

 

A TCF grant to the Eyup Music Foundation, one of the oldest Turkish classical music societies, will underwrite a tribute concert to three composers from Istanbul: Osman Nihat Akin, Selahattin Icli and Avni Anil. The concert will take place at the Istanbul Technical University on May 12. The Eyup Music Foundation provides free after-school music education and helps keep interest in Turkish classical music alive in young generations and the general public.