Bircan Unver, who lives in New York and is known for her cultural and art activities she had been arranging for years, recommended establishing a very effective foundation for introducing Turkish art and culture in the Unites States better and more organized. Bircan Unver pointed that it was a major shortcoming not to establish a Turkish Culture and Art Foundation in U.S. and encouraged all Turkish American Organizations, successful U.S. business owners and workers in every job category to support such project in Turkey and in the United States. Ms. Unver also said that this was possible by enabling logistic and source support for this goal and making museums, universities, municipalities, and other private organizations join in this effort.

Ms. Unver is the founder and the president of “Light Millennium/Isık Binyılı” (www.lightmillennium.org), a public benefit organization with tax-exempt status, and she organized many cultural and art events. She said that establishing such a foundation and organizing major events would increase the publicity of Turkish culture and art and make them known by more Americans and other ethnic communities living in U.S.

Ms. Unver also said that this foundation would be dynamic and powerful mechanism for making our culture exist in the American society and in the U.S. culture mosaic.

INCREASING ACTIVITIES

Ms. Unver pointed that the number of festivals organized in major cities such as New York and Chicago, and the number of concerts, shows, exhibitions, theatre plays, and dance shows of artists from Turkey was increasing every year. She also said, “These festivals and activities show that Turks in U.S. have very heterogenous society depending on their occupation, their economic and cultural structures as well as their ideologies they grew up with in Turkey. However, these cultural and art activities bringing Turks in U.S. together remove a major shortcoming and help their spectators and interested people acquire new values and experiences, and benefit from these activities. Majority of these events, even most successful ones, could reach only very limited number of people in Turkish community.  Participation of Americans and other ethnic communities is very low and at very symbolic rate.”

Bircan Unver presented her slide show “Reflections From Sri Lanka and Tsunami” on May 2005 at Turkish House in New York. This show included her impressions in pictures from the devastated areas in Sri Lanka while she was there from January 15, 25, 2005 to February 9^, 2005 after the Tsunami disaster. Bircan Unver (in the middle and with yellow jacket) is with R. Jayasinghe, New York Ambassador of Sri Lanka (at her right), Figen Bingul, General Secretary of this organization, and participants of this event.

Ms. Unver pointed that the main goal of future Turkish Culture and Art Foundation should be to support existing formations and to help them grow and get stronger in the long term. She emphasized that for each planned project, the future foundation could be in collaboration with very prominent U.S. museums, universities, science and research organizations, municipalities, Culture and Art Divisions of U.S. companies doing business in and exporting to Turkey, and major financial institutions.

She also said, “It will be possible to reach to wider sections of the society and to make them interested in involving in these projects. However, it is imperative that all interested parties in U.S. and Turkey should come together. Establishing this foundation officially and letting it progress with great pace to reach its purpose will remove the weakness of Turkey oppose to Armenian, Greek, and other countries communities in American society.”

FOR PUBLICITY GOAL

Ms. Unver said that should the Turkish Culture and Art Foundation that she had been leading ever realized she would work hard to make especially the United States and the whole world know and understand the Turkish culture and art from a wider perspective. This perspective would extend from Anatolian Civilizations to Ottomans and to present time by running huge projects such as major exhibitions, conferences, symposiums, or big festivals that included either countries or different cities in these countries from different perspectives.

NOT ENOUGH RESULT

Ms. Unver emphasized that although Turkey had been spending a lot of money for the lobby works against the Armenian lobbies in the Unites States and all around the world for years, she did not get effective results. She also said, “If we could channel some of the budget allocated for lobby works and international advertisements into this project, we could establish aforementioned foundation in the Unites States and we could secure Turkey’s future.”

ONLY TWO EXHIBITIONS

Ms. Unver reminded that until now, there were only two major exhibitions, “Suleiman the Magnificent” and “Sabanci Calligraphy Collection” in the Unites States. She said that this future foundation could set up a major exhibition every year or every two years and these exhibitions, which would travel all U.S., could reach every section of the American society.

Ms. Unver pointed that books, documentaries, brochures, and music produced from these exhibitions could be available in museum shops, university and public libraries,  and all these would increase the effect of the exhibition. She said, “I believe this foundation will be realized in the near future with the help of Turkish-American society.  I sent a letter among few exhibition ideas to New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, suggesting them to include those major exhibition ideas in their program for the year 2008.  This initiative has showed how urgent establishing this foundation is and also has encouraged me to create a need and claim for it within Turkish-American society.

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For origin of the idea in Turkish>

LM's Note: This news both appeared in daily Turkish newspaper HurriyetUSA's web site and in the printed version from the 1^st & and 2^nd pages on June 19, 2005.