BİLGİ “UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Cultural Diplomacy” Opening

İstanbul Bilgi University UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Cultural Diplomacy was established as 11.UNESCO Chair in Turkey and work will begin after the official opening will take place on 21 September. The opening day will also be the launch of the 2017-2018 issue of Cultural Policy and Management Research Centre (KPY)'s annual KPY Yearbook (Cultural Policy Yearbook) series, which will be published in collaboration with the Iletisim Publishing.

Date: September 21, 2018 
Time: 17.00-19.30 
Place: santralistanbul Campus, Energy Museum-Control Room

İstanbul Bilgi University UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Cultural Diplomacy was established as 11.UNESCO Chair in Turkey and work will begin after the official opening will take place on 21 September. The opening day will also be the launch of the 2017-2018 issue of Cultural Policy and Management Research Centre’s (KPY) annual KPY Yearbook (Cultural Policy Yearbook) series, which will be published in collaboration with the Iletisim Publishing.

In December 2017, UNESCO Paris accepted İstanbul Bilgi University’s application for the establishment of a “UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Cultural Diplomacy”. The relevant contract was signed between the University’s Rectorate and UNESCO Director-General’s Office on 21 March 2018. This is the first UNESCO Chair at BİLGİ, and the eleventh UNESCO Chair in Turkey.

The Chair has an interdisciplinary character and is expected to make a significant contribution to scientific work on culture (and art) management and policy at BİLGİ, in cooperation with the Undergraduate Program in Arts and Cultural Management, the Graduate Program in Cultural Management and the Cultural Policy and Management Research Center.

In this context, the Chair targets to: 
• contribute to existing projects of local and international cultural institutions with a view to promoting international cooperation and dialogue in the field of culture 
• undertake efforts that will support international cooperation among stakeholders (especially the culture industries) and civil society, with a view to preserving and promoting the diversity of cultural expression
• engage in capacity-building and support existing international networks with a view to promoting participatory culture policies
• cooperate with the UNESCO and with UNESCO chairs engaged in similar activities
• promote the dissemination and exchange of research in cultural policy and cultural diplomacy

The project for the establishment of the UNESCO Chair was led by Assoc. Prof. Serhan Ada, member of BİLGİ Faculty of Communication and Director of the Cultural Policy and Management Research Center. Stating that the establishment of the Chair marked a major academic achievement at the international level, Prof. Ada said: “We believe that this new status will offer us unique opportunities for further improving our existing work on cultural policy at the national and international levels, and for contributing to academic work in cultural diplomacy, which is a relatively new field in Turkey”.

The application for establishing the UNESCO Chair was undertaken in cooperation with the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Turkish Publishers Association (YAY-BİR), the Turkish Music Producers Association (MÜYAP), İzmir Mediterranean Academy, Hildesheim University, and Belgrade University of Arts. The application was also supported by several cultural NGOs including the Mawred Al Thaqafi in Beirut and the Racines in Casablanca, and approved by the Turkish National Commission for UNESCO.