As part of the celebrations of the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day on April 23, a massive lineup of cultural and educational events is planned in Istanbul. The city will be full of music, technology and art that will be used to celebrate the young people of Turkiye.

The local and international players will gather in historic locations and contemporary centres in order to celebrate this classic holiday.

Global talent is featured in the cultural centres

The State Folk Dance Ensemble will perform a dance piece with the theme of youth energy in a modern dance and professional choreography show at the Ataturk Cultural Centre titled “Footsteps of the Future” (Gelecegin Ayak Sesleri).

It will also be the home of the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra and the Besiktas Children’s Choir. Their performance will be dedicated to the theme of hope and the future, to motivate the young audience.

The festivals are extended to the Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theatre, which has a wide global agenda. The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IBB) Children’s Choir and Youth Folk Dance Ensemble will play together with visiting children from Georgia, Serbia and Ossetia. 

The popular characters, such as King Sakir (Kral Sakir) and Super Wings, will be featured on the stage, where a live concert by singer Ece Mumay will also be held.

To create a unique holiday experience, the historic Kastel Building will be used to organise a candlelight concert according to the concept of Candela Kids, where the main songs will be Republic Songs (Cumhuriyet Sarkilari).

Maritime museums blend tech and sea

Rahmi M. Koc Museum (Rahmi M. Koc Muzesi) is proposing a wide variety of activities, which would combine maritime history with modern engineering. Such programs will enable children to play around the Golden Horn (Halic) and acquire new skills:

• Children will colour an ancient VW Beetle (Vosvos) and will be able to express their artistic creativity.
• The children aged between 8 and 12 years will be taught the sailor knots by the Koc University Sailing and Maritime Club.
• Young tourists will have the opportunity to go on a ride on the “Count Ostrorog” (Kont Ostrorog), a traditional Black Sea fishing vessel.

The Integra Robotics Team of Bahcesehir Science and Technology High School will facilitate the sessions through which kids will be able to build and code their own Lego.

The Ozmo Children’s Festival (Ozmo Cocuk Senligi) of Dogus Square is organised by Galataport Istanbul with the same interactive intentions.

During the day, children will be involved in workshops and competitions.

This competition is also the third year of the dance battle competition, which aims to showcase the talents of the Istanbul Street Dance community.

Digital art is a tribute to local imagination

Pera Museum Suna and Inan Kirac Foundation will provide free access to the holiday and encourage people to participate in the culture.

It will give a staging of a play by the BGST Theatre called The Tragic Comedy of Federico Garcia Lorca (Federico Garcia Lorca nin Acikli Guldurusu).

It will be a special performance on the floor of the exhibition “Intersecting Worlds: Ambassadors and Painters” (Kesisen Dunyalar: Elciler ve Ressamlar). It is a theatre/ fine art mix that will provide children aged 10 and above with an opportunity to experience the collection in a new way.

The project “I Thought I Saw a Cat” (Bi’ Kedi Gordum Sanki) revolves around digital art. The children will develop digital works, which will be projected on a huge LED screen so that people can view them.

The cats of Kadikoy are also in the limelight of the imagination of a child. During this time, Duru Theatre (Duru Tiyatro) will perform the play of the desire to make dreams come true, titled “Detective Dog Dodo” (Dedektif Kopek Dodo).

These celebrations are also being taken to open spaces and parks by local municipalities, and ensuring that the art and stories are shared as widely as possible.

Beylikduzu Municipality will host its 11 th Children Festival in different parks and forests to make sure all children have access to sporting and technological activities.