A Turkish festival wins EU funding

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

IDans Festival has been accepted to the European Commision’s culture program.

The IDans International Contemporary Dance and Performance Festival, which has been organized by Bimeras in Istanbul for six years, will be backed by the European Commission’s culture program.

The festival is one of 14 European festivals selected by the commission this year. The others include leading European festivals such as the London Jazz Festival, Berlin Transmediale and Vienna ImPulsTanz. This year 275 festivals from 32 European countries applied to the program. Twelve of these were from Turkey.

The selection committee, made up of experts in the field, said iDANS was a clearly defined, ambitious and professional festival and reported that “in spite of the difficulties of presenting contemporary performing arts in Turkey, the curators insist on precise and high-quality programming.”

The committee also noted “the 360-degree activity of iDANS ranging from stage performances to public space exhibitions and performances, workshops, residency programs, seminars, and publications.”
The IDans Festival has been previously accepted as a partner in three different five-year cooperation projects backed by the European Union.

The 6th IDans Festival will be held this year between Sept. 28 and Nov. 3. The theme of the event will be the “Silk Road of Dance.”