The fourth Flying Carpet Festival starts today, September 15th, and will continue until September 25th. The festival is held in remote villages near the border and the cities of Mardin and Kızıltepe during a 10-day residency for 27 local and international 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 program is as follows:
Sunday, September 18th. KAŞIKLI village, Kızıltepe, 19:00 – The Little Black Fish (musical storytelling experience)
Monday, September 19th, İstasyon SİRKHANE, 19:00 – The Little Black Fish (musical storytelling experience)
Tuesday, September 20th, MARDİN SİRKHANE, 20:00 – Jam Night #1 with Ebuburak Toparli and Abdurahman Oğuz.
Wednesday, September 21st, GÜNLÜCE village, Kızıltepe, 20:00 – The Little Black Fish (musical storytelling experience)
Thursday, September 22nd, KARAKUYU village, Kızıltepe, 19:00 – The Little Black Fish (musical storytelling experience)
Friday, September 23rd, MARDİN SİRKHANE, 20:00 – Jam Night #2 with Farzaneh Joorabchi and Saba Qassem
Saturday, September 24th, KÖRSU village, Kızıltepe, 19:00 – The Little Black Fish (musical storytelling experience)
Sunday, September 25th, MARDİN SABANCI MÜZESİ, 19:00 – The Little Black Fish (musical storytelling experience)
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 child 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 Travis Andrews (Guitar - United States), Farzaneh Joorabchi (Vocalist - Iran/Italy), Midori Samson (Bassoon - United States), 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), Lulu Gizem (Storyteller – Turkey), Filiz Işık Bulut (Author – Turkey) and Deniz Keser (Circus Arts - Turkey). The production artist team this year includes Lincoln Andrews (Sound Designer - United States), Nima Dehghani (Visual Projection - Iran/United States), Özgür Mert (Filmmaker - Turkey), and Berna Küpeli (Photographer - Turkey). The festival incorporates local artists from the region into the program. Artists such as Sabah Qassem (Poet – Syria), Ebuburak Toparli (Storyteller – Mardin, Turkey), Mücahit Poraz (Musician, Mardin, Turkey), Abdurahman Oğuz (Dengbej, Cizre, Turkey), Yusuf Oğuz (Vocalist, Cizre, Turkey) and Said Muhammet Ceylan (Pianist, Kızıltepe, Turkey).
Flying Carpet Festival 2022 is sponsored by numerous private donors, Merops Foundation, and Austrian Cultural Forum in Istanbul.