Akbank Art Center
Thousands of events!
Millions of young people have been introduced to
modern and contemporary
art, acquiring a whole new perspective.
Akbank Art Center, whose primary philosophy is, without any commercial interest, to support culture and art, to support artists and to present audiences with high quality works of art, has been hosting dynamic and innovative events since 1993. In keeping with its mission of being "the place where change never ends", Akbank Artistic Theaters, Akbank Artistic Dance Studios, Akbank Puppet and Traditional Shadow Theater, Akbank Children's Theater, Akbank Branch Galleries, Akbank Art Collection and Akbank Culture and Art Publishing House, which are part of the Center, offer art lovers the best of contemporary art and provide young artists with a unique environment in which to freely express themselves.Click for details.
Akbank Children's Theater
35 Plays in 35 Cities in the 35th Anniversary
The Akbank Children's Theater, which is on the scene for 40 years, toured Turkey in 2007 with its show 35 Plays in 35 Cities in the 35th Anniversary. One of those plays, which gained great affection of children and local community in every city from Kilis and Malkara to Erzurum and Bursa, was performed on a truck.
The Akbank Children's Theater toured several districts which had not been visited by a theater before. Especially the performance at the primary school in Huseyinoglu town in Musabeyli district (Kilis) was admired by the council of elders, local administrators and community as well as the students. The plays, which attracted great interest and attention, reached more than 160,000 children. After the performances, Akbank handed out ladybird coinboxes to the children.
Akbank Children's Theater on the Hurriyet Human Rights Train
Akbank Children's Theater, which always breaks new grounds inland and abroad, carried with the "Human Rights Train" of the daily newspaper Hurriyet the excitement, blues and glory of the theater to 42 cities throughout Turkey in 2008 summer.
Following the tournement covering 35 cities for the 35. anniversary, this time the Theater met tens of thousands of children from Kars and Edirne to Gaziantep and Erzurum within the framework of the social project of the newspaper Hurriyet (in English: Freedom) under the motto: "Freedom is Our Right."
The Akbank Children's Theater, which put up its plays on the "stage-wagon" that was specially designed for the Theater, performed in the tournement the play "Tale in a tale" which was scripted and directed by Isil Kasapoglu. The play, which reached childern through the tales, treated themes such as "non-violence," "no discrimination," and "right for education." Attracting great attention of older people as well as childern, the play was re-performed in some of the cities at the evenings, too.
In 2009, Akbank Children's Theater participated again to Hürriyet Train's trip, this time performing the play "Who Is The Happiest?" written by Yavuz Pekman and directed by Hayrettin Arslanoğlu. In a tour of 51 days, the Theater travelled 11.000 km on the "stage-wagon" and performed the play in 42 different places, reaching thousands of children." Click for details
Akbank Jazz Festival
Akbank Jazz Festival has hosted some of the most important jazz musicians in the world since 1991 and has contributed to the success of some of the promising, new names; furthermore, it continues its journey as a multi-faceted organization with panels, workshops, movie presentations, performances, and social responsibility projects.
Akbank Jazz Festival has reinvented itself ever year with improvements for its audiences and has reached many Turkish cities outside of Istanbul with its Jazz on Campus concerts since 2006. The festival will take place in nine cities in Anatolia in 2011, aside from the Jazz on Campus concerts in Istanbul.
Akbank Jazz Festival was awarded the Culture and Arts prize in the Corporate Social Responsibility category at 2011's Golden Compass Public Relations Awards. Click for details.
Akbank Short Film Festival
30 universities every year!
Makers of short films have been inspired by the best from around the world and received support for their projects.
Akbank Short Film Festival was created to promote the production of short films, to ensure that audiences had the pleasure of watching these films, to encourage filmmakers with the potential to contribute to the Turkish film industry, to bring movie-goers short films from different countries, films presenting different points of view and to provide a platform for discussions on this subject. The Festival, which began in 2004 under the coordinatorship of Selim Evci, has created a "festival tradition" enjoyed by movie lovers,filling an important lack in the Turkish cultural scene and reaching an ever-expanding audience every year.
Turkish National Philarmonic Youth Orchestra
One of the most rigorous supporters of culture and art in Turkey in addition to its banking activities, Akbank is the key sponsor of the Turkish National Philarmonic Youth Orchestra as a musical center contributing to the development of our country's future talents. Having completing its summer activities with the support of Sabancı Foundation and conducted by Cem Mansur, the Orchestra has also performed in various cities of the world.
In line with its new strategy Akbank has launched an initiative to offer new opportunities to young talents within the framework of culture and art projects to extend these projects to cover a wider area across Anatolia. The aim of this initiative is to mainly involve youngsters and especially university students in such projects. Transforming the Akbank Chamber Orchestra into a new format for the purpose of promoting classical music education, Akbank has undertaken the key sponsorship of Turkish National Philarmonic Youth Orchestra to encourage and inspire high-potential music students in different cities of Anatolia.
International Istanbul Film Festival Sponsorship
The best of world cinema!
Thousands have been spellbound by innovative masterpieces!
Since 2004, Akbank has been the principal supporter of the International Istanbul Film Festival, which contributes to the establishment of a deeply-rooted cinema culture,bringing movie lovers the best and most original films from around the world along with special events featuring top stars and noted directors.Closely followed by a broad viewer base, many of whom are young people,the Festival opens the doors to a whole new world through the different lives and varied points of view it presents, as well as its extensive selection of films.Akbank believes that these qualities embody the Festival's important mission and hopes to enjoy a long cooperation with the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, the Festival's organizer.
Contemporary İstanbul
Contemporary Istanbul, the "modern and contemporary art" event with the widest scope in Turkey, introduces the country's cultural and artistic life to the world. Akbank Private Banking, as the sponsor of Contemporary Istanbul since 2007, is recognized by the international art community with its contribution to one of the most important modern art events in Turkey. Besides the art fair facility, Contemporary Istanbul presents many side events and art projects throughout the year, from discussion panels to exhibitions.
A Surrealist in Istanbul: Salvador Dalí Exhibition
Sabancı University's Sakıp Sabancı Museum, with sponsorship from Akbank, hosted works by one of the most important artists of the surrealist movement, Salvador Dalí, beginning from september 2008. Featuring the most comprehensive exhibition of Dali's collected works outside of the artist's homeland of Spain ever, this exhibition created to be a very compelling attraction not just locally, but globally. Akbank is proud to achieve another first by making it possible for Turkish art lovers to visit an exhibition of the works of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, the leading figure of the surrealist movement, a unique, innovative, talented, paradigm-changing artist and eccentric, Salvador Dalí. Click for details.
The Rodin Exhibition
The works of Rodin, the great master of the art of sculpture, greet art loves.
This major exhibition held in 2006 was organized by Sabancı University's Sakıp Sabancı Musuem with sponsorship from Akbank and aimed to introduce the works of the great master of the art of sculpture to a broad audience .A total of 203 works from the Rodin Museum in Paris were included in this Rodin retrospective, including sculptures in bronze, marble and plaster, as well as archive photos, pieces from the artist's collection of Classical sculpture and original designs for his works.The exhibition, which attracted hundreds of visitors, was complemented by conferences, sculpture workshops and children's programs, making it a 360 program that shed light on every aspect to Auguste Rodin'a life and works.Click for details.
