The Turkish Cultural Foundation announced the TCF Cultural Exchange Fellowship this month which aims to support international exchanges between artists, museum professionals as well as professional working in fields related to the arts and culture. The Fellowship will be awarded competitively each year to Turkish and non-Turkish artists and professionals. The 2012 application deadline for the TCF Cultural Exchange Fellowship is March 30, 2012. For more information on eligibility and terms, please visit the TCF website.

TCF is now accepting applications from Turkish artists to be featured at the TCF sponsored display at the Sculpture Objects and Functional Art - SOFA Chicago fair on November 1 - 4, 2012. Applications are due on April 2, 2012. This is the 6th year that TCF will be participating in SOFA and the Turkish art display at SOFA Chicago 2012 will be curated with Armaggan Art & Design Gallery. For more information and to apply, visit the TCF website or contact tcfatsofa@turkishculture.org.

TCF has been accepted as an Associate Member of World Craft Council-Europe (WCC-Europe), a member of the World Crafts Council. WCC-Europe aims to promote the design-led crafts and applied arts in Europe by building a network of contacts and collecting and spreading information in these fields. By joining WCC, TCF aims to provide a platform for Turkish artists to learn more about international art opportunities organized by the WCC network. WCC-Europe also organizes various competitions for European artists on contemporary art and design-led crafts.

The Teacher Workshops on Turkey, organized by local chapters of the Worlds Affairs Councils of America are ongoing. Organized under the "Portrait of Turkey" year-long TCF program with WACA, teachers who participate in these workshops become eligible to apply for the three TCF Teacher Study Tours. For a listing on the Teacher Workshops on Turkey, visit the TCF Cultural Calendar.

To expand educational exchanges among American and Turkish teachers, TCF has invited applications from Turkish teachers to volunteer on the TCF Teacher Study Tours.
For more information, please visit the TCF website.

TCF Teacher Study Tours regularly visit with teachers and students of Atakoy Elementary school in small Anatolian village of Karacasu. American teachers on the tour have been supporting this school and the donations of the 2011 study tour teachers were gifted by TCF as two projectors and screens, one laptop and supplemental technical equipment to the school this month.

On February 15, the TCF Culinary Arts Institute - YESAM hosted a seminar by Nevin Halici on Ottoman cuisine as part of their series on Evolution of Turkish Cuisine. For more information on YESAM lectures, please visit the YESAM website.

The TCF Lecture Series in Istanbul will feature Prof. Dr. Isenbike Togan, Honorary Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences and Lecturer at Bogazici University, who will speak on "Early Chinese-Turkic Encounters in East Asia" on February 20. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Tasagil, Chair of the Department of History at Mimar Sinan University will speak on "The Birth of Chinese Civilization and Relations with Ancient Turks" (Lecture is in Turkish: Cin Uygarliginin Dogusu ve Turklerle Iliskiler) on February 21.

The TCF Istanbul Lectures are periodically added to the TCF website for online viewing. For upcoming TCF lectures, please visit here.

For the sixth, TCF has awarded a grant to the Glass Furnace Foundation (Cam Ocagi Vakfi) in Istanbul to support international exchanges in glass art and the education of Turkish glass artists and craftsmen. This year's TCF grant continues to provide funding for a full-year paid apprenticeship for a young craftsman and a master craftsman at the Glass Furnace Foundation, as well as scholarships to aspiringTurkish glass artists to participate in the Foundation's on-campus workshops taught by internationally acclaimed glass artists.  

Supported by a TCF grant, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art-MASS MOCA will feature a video installation by Turkish artist Inci Eviner as part of its exhibition Making Room: The Space Between Two and Three Dimensions". The exhibition will open on February 25 and will run throuhg March 01, 2013. For more information, visit here.

TCF has provided educational material to the Orange County Turkish School and the ATA School of the Turkish American Friendship Society of the United States (TAFSUS). To recieve free educational resources on Turkey for Turkish American community schools, please contact washington@turkishculture.org.