KARAGÖZ ART CENTER
Adresse : Cumhuriyet Cad. No. 78
10400 AYVALIK - TURKEY
Tel. +90 266 312 65 61

Karagöz Art Center will be a workshop and exhibition space for artists designing and producing both Turkish and world handcrafts work.

At Karagöz, people of Ayvalik will get an insight into other parts of Turkey and the world through handcrafts and the artists who produced them.

The Art Center will also host discussion sessions and seminars around the handcrafts presented in Karagöz, and on related cultural, historical, philosophical, touristic and literary subjects.

Turkish and foreign artists of diverse range of handcrafts are going to be developing cultural projects in collaboration with the Centre. The Centre is aiming to act as a hub of cultural exchange between these artists and especially the younger generations of Ayvalik.

Local masters of Sarimsakli stoneworks, metalworks and wood crafts will also find the Center a valuable space to exhibit their work and interact with the public.

Exhibitions and seminars will be held around traditional Turkish arts from different regions of Turkey such as miniature, weaving, calligraphy, marbling, ceramics, silverwork and copperwork.

Karagöz Art Center will be working towards developing collaboration between education institutions of fine arts in Turkey and abroad in order to develop projects aimed at young artists, for whom Karagoz will act as a work space.

KARAGÖZ ART CENTER FOR GYPSY MUSIC

Our efforts in the last ten years of promoting Gypsy music from Turkey at international festivals and cultural centres have had significant effects in raising awareness, especially in Europe, of Gypsy musicians and bands from Turkey.

Building on our experience in this field, we are setting up a “Centre for Gypsy Music from Turkey”, in the premises of Karagöz Art Center in Ayvalik.

This building once was an olive oil warehouse built in 1881 with a typical Greek architectural style: a base of 80m2 with a high ceiling exposing the original wooden framework of the building.

The centre is open its doors in the summer of 2005. The main activity of the centre is around Gypsy music but it is also open to all other artistic activities.

We are aiming to be the reference point in Turkey to and for Gypsy musicians, who have not had an established address to date.

Our objectives are as follows:

-Forming a comprehensive database of the professional Gypsy musicians and bands in all regions of Turkey

-Cataloguing all forms of documentation (CD, cassettes, films, books, photographs, posters…) on Gypsy culture in Turkey

-Conducting artistic projects of all kinds and on all subjects related to Gypsy culture

-Organizing Gypsy music festivals in Ayvalik and in other cities in Turkey as well as abroad, bringing musicians from Turkey and elsewhere together

-Further promoting Gypsy music abroad
-Developing collaborative projects with musicians and institutions from other countries

-Organizing musical training programs delivered by the masters of instruments for the younger members of the Gypsy community in Ayvalik and other cities.

- Karagöz will function as a meeting point as well as a creation and rehearsal space for diverse projects. It will also host musical performances.