The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) considers contributing to the development of cultural policies, supporting creativity, and ensuring the equal and active participation of everyone in cultural life, without discrimination, among its fundamental responsibilities.
The field of arts and culture must offer equal opportunities for all.
Art is a shared value of humanity and does not belong to any particular segment of society or privileged group. Cultural wealth, artistic production and the contexts in which artistic production takes place must be developed for everyone and together with everyone.
Good intentions alone are not enough. Inclusion and accessibility must therefore guide our institutional policies.
One of our key objectives is to create an environment for culture and the arts where everyone who walks through our doors can benefit from our programmes on an equal footing and feels safe and comfortable, and has a sense of belonging.
Our Core Principles
At İKSV, we:
- Value and embrace the diversity of society;
- Evaluate all the programmes and events we have organised to date, as well as our organisational structure, through the lens of inclusion and accessibility;
- Aim to make all our events accessible to everyone, without discrimination;
- Recognise the challenges of transforming established habits and practices in a short period of time, and act with an awareness that transformation requires determination and continuity.
Our Commitments
To create an inclusive and accessible environment for culture and the arts:
- Physical Accessibility
We work alongside venue providers to remove physical barriers to accessing all permanent, temporary and seasonal event venues. - Digital Accessibility and Communication Accessibility
We are bringing our websites and digital platforms into line with international accessibility standards and prioritising clarity in our communications. - Institutional Capacity Building
We are expanding internal training on accessibility and inclusion. - Needs-Based Approach
We strive to develop sustainable solutions by gaining a thorough understanding of specific accessibility needs, expectations, challenges encountered and available resources. - Collaborations and Partnerships
We develop lasting and effective policies by strengthening collaboration with civil society organisations, the private sector, public institutions and local authorities.
Open Call and Participation
As the İKSV community, in fulfilling our responsibility to support equal participation in cultural life, we publicly state that:
- We are open to feedback, criticism and constructive suggestions from individuals and communities from all walks of life;
- We embrace a participatory and transparent approach;
- We will continue to learn and develop.
To share your ideas on what has been done or could be done in the areas of inclusion and accessibility, please contact us at info@iksv.org.
Our Declaration
In line with our revised approaches, we adopt as our fundamental objective the creation of an environment for culture and the arts where everyone who walks through our doors has equal opportunities to benefit from our programmes and feels safe and comfortable, and has a sense of belonging.
To this end, we publicly declare that we will make accessibility and inclusion an indispensable part of our institutional identity.
We would like to thank the Alternative Life Association (AYDER) for its advisory support.