The fourth Flying Carpet Festival will return to the Turkish Syrian border between September 15th-25th, 2022 and be held in remote villages near the border and the cities of Mardin and Kiziltepe during a 10-day residency for 21 artists from 11 countries.
Flying Carpet Festival is the first mobile multi-disciplinary arts festival for vulnerable and refugee children living in difficult places worldwide. The Flying Carpet Festival was created in 2018 by Sahba Aminikia, a San Francisco-based Iranian American music composer, in collaboration with Her Yerde Sanat Dernegi (Art Anywhere Association), originally a social circus school and a cultural organization based in Mardin, Türkiye, near the Turkish Syrian border where 3.6 million refugees, half of whom are children are resettled. Other programs held by Her Yerde Sanat Dernegi include; Sirkhane (circus and acrobatic workshops), Sirkhane Darkroom (analog photography workshops), and Müzikhane (music workshops).
The festival annually brings 20-40 artists, musicians, dancers, acrobats, and storytellers to the Turkish Syrian border as part of an artist residency. It engages them in creating a cohesive artistic story-telling experience decorated with music, dance, circus arts, and visual projection for children of Syrian, Turkish, and Kurdish origin. The festival forms collaborations between artists-in-residence, local artists, and children artists.
Since its conception, The Flying Carpet Festival has reached out to 15,000 children through 38 live performances and 250 workshops and has hosted 82 artists. It also has been mentioned in San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Associated Press, KALW, Medium, and I Care if You Listen. In the previous years, Flying Carpet has been sponsored by the United States Embassy in Adana, BMZ (German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development), and the Italian Cultural Institute in Istanbul.
The artist lineup this year includes Andrew Meyerson (Percussions) and Travis Andrews (Guitar) from The Living Earth Show (United States), Farzaneh Joorabchi (Vocalist - Iran/Italy), Midori Samson (Bassoon - United States), Lloyd Van't Hoff (Clarinet - Australia), Arnau Brichs (Piano - Spain), Maša Avramović (Illustration - Serbia), Tobias Pocksteiner (Bass - Austria), Torfeh Ekhlasi (Puppeteering - Iran), Lydia Umlauf(Violin - United States), Vahid Hosseini (Composition - Iran), Shayan Shariat (Puppeteering - Iran), Viliya Monovska (Fire Dance - Bulgaria), Milena Schultz and Sebastian Gonzalez from Cie Balades Perdues (Circus Arts - Germany-Chile) and Deniz Keser (Circus Arts - Turkey). The production artist team this year includes Lincoln Andrews (Sound Designer - United States), Soheila Bajelan (Puppet Design - Iran), Nima Dehghani (Visual Projection - Iran/United States), Özgür Mert (Filmmaker - Turkey), and Berna Küpeli (Photographer - Turkey).