Early Childhood Development and Culture-Arts

İKSV Alt Kat assumes the coordination of the project titled Early Childhood Development and Culture-Arts which has been carried out by İKSV with the support of Bernard van Leer Foundation. The project, which is conducted under the supervision of Boğaziçi University, aims to raise awareness and increase knowledge on early childhood development in the culture-arts field, develop culture-arts content and access for 0-6-year-old children, and propose approaches, content, programmes and methods which serves as a model in this field.

Within the scope of the project, children’s books have been published as part of the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial, 47th Istanbul Music Festival, 26th Istanbul Jazz Festival, 16th Istanbul Biennial and 23rd Istanbul Theatre Festival. The books, prepared under the editorial supervision of Burcu Ural Kopan and published in Turkish, English and Arabic, are available for free at festival and biennial venues, affiliated bookstores and İKSV Alt Kat: Learning and Interaction Space. The books are also sent free of charge to non-governmental organisations, culture-arts and education institutions in various cities around Turkey. The published children’s books have reached children in 31 different cities besides Istanbul. In addition to festival and biennial venues, various workshops and reading activities are held in connection with the children’s books.

Another event of the project, conducted with the support of Bernard van Leer Foundation, was the “Baby Mornings” exhibition tours, which parents and caregivers of 0-18-month-old babies could attend with their babies in the company of a guide, free of charge.

In addition to training sessions and seminars held in collaboration with Boğaziçi University for İKSV employees and field teams, a series of talks titled “Early Childhood Development and Culture-Arts” in which the finest national and international examples were brought together, was held between 17 and 18 September 2019.