15 Years of Tarabya Cultural Academy

15 Years of Tarabya Cultural Academy

On 13 October 2011, the Tarabya Cultural Academy opened its doors on the Bosphorus. Fifteen years and more than 220 fellows later, it is marking its anniversary with a celebration in three acts. The first act, Water Finds Its Way, brings artists back to Istanbul and to other cities across Türkiye from October to December 2026, with an extensive programme of readings, concerts, opera, exhibitions and a theatre premiere.

One Programme: A Wealth of History

The Tarabya Cultural Academy was officially inaugurated in October 2011. Since the first fellows moved into the residency house in September 2012, more than 220 artists from a wide range of disciplines have lived and worked at the Academy. They have built lasting ties with Türkiye’s cultural scene and realised projects together with partners here, and many of these collaborations have continued long after the residencies ended. Water Finds Its Way offers a glimpse into this 15-year history and the impact the programme continues to have.

Looking Back: How It All Began

The Academy was inaugurated on 13 October 2011 in the presence of the then Foreign Ministers Guido Westerwelle and Ahmet Davutoğlu. In their opening addresses, Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, and Kemal Fahir Genç, Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture, expressed the hope that the Academy would strengthen cultural relations between Türkiye and Germany. Fifteen years on, it has become an important centre for Turkish-German dialogue.

Speakers at the ceremony also included Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, then President of the Goethe-Institut, and the Members of the Bundestag Petra Merkel (SPD) and Claudia Roth (Alliance 90/The Greens). The evening closed with a cultural programme curated by the Goethe-Institut and a speech by the writer Klaus Reichert, then President of the German Academy for Language and Literature.

A year later, in September 2012, the documentary filmmaker Martina Priessner and the playwright Marianna Salzmann became the first fellows to move in.

An Anniversary in Three Acts

The three acts follow the path of the Academy’s fellows: from Tarabya out into Türkiye’s cultural scene, back to Germany, and on towards a lasting, dialogue-based exchange between the two countries.

The first act, Water Finds Its Way, opens the celebrations. From October to December 2026, more than 15 alumni of the residency programme return to Istanbul and other cities across Türkiye. With readings, opera, concerts, live performances, exhibitions and a theatre premiere, they are reuniting with long-standing partners such as Istanbul Modern, ARTER, Depo and Sinopale.

Water lies at the heart of the programme. It transforms, carries and connects. It crosses borders and creates spaces that can be both sheltering and dangerous, and it always finds its own way.

For the Academy’s fellows, water is a constant companion. For several months they live and work overlooking the Bosphorus, a strait that links seas and cultures and flows in two directions at once. This makes it a fitting symbol for the residency programme, which connects artists from Germany with the cultural scene in Istanbul and across Türkiye in ways that last well beyond their stay. The works presented during the anniversary bear witness to these connections and the collaborations that have grown from them.

The second act will follow in Germany. The third act is planned as a two-month residency for Turkish-German artist tandems along the transit route between the two countries.