STATE THEATRE, OPERA AND BALLET EMPLOYEES FOUNDATION

(TOBAV)

            The State Theatre, Opera and Ballet Employees Foundation (TOBAV) was founded with the announcement made in the Official Gazette dated on December 28, 1981.

            TOBAV was founded on to realize two objectives:

            1) Maintaining mutual support between members of the foundation; and creating funds for members of the foundation.

            2) Improving and making widespread the arts of theatre, opera and ballet throughout the country; providing support to the professional and amateur works in line with this objective; providing support to the established groups or groups which will be established; organizing encouraging contests, prizes, courses, seminars, discussions, panels, and symposiums; providing research courses within the country and abroad; publishing.

            TOBAV focused on institutionalization and organization in the beginning. Within this period; it organized exhibitions, festivals for children’s theatres, play writing contest; held seminars and discussion meetings; and sought to realize the mutual support.

            TOBAV Foundation focused on the works about its second objective in 1989. A series of discussion and conversation meetings about the major issues of the State Theatres were held; and the executives of the State Theatres and the State Opera and Ballet, the artists and the respected actors and actresses attended those activities:

 

JUN – MAR 1989	Sunday Discussions were organized. The topics can be listed as follows: “State Theatres between 1949 and 2000” “State Theatres and their Repertoire” “State Theatres and the Audience” “State Theatres and the International Relations” “State Theatres and Theatre Education” “State Theatres and Artistic Problems”
24.03.1991	The forest called “Yes to Art” was created by planting 5,000 saplings on an area of 15 hectare in cooperation with Altındağ Municipality.
13.03.1991	A play writing contest for children and young people was organized in cooperation with Çankaya Municipality.
23-26.04.1991	The 4th International Drama Seminar was organized in cooperation with the Contemporary Drama Association.
17-19.05.1991	The 1st International Theatre Management and Entrepreneurship Seminar was organized in Mersin in cooperation with Meksav.
29.06.1991	Turley was awarded full membership at the 20th World Congress of IATA (International Amateur Theatres Association) and TOBAV became a member of IATA.
3-7.09.1991	TOBAV represented Turkey in the meeting about the Status of Asian Pacific Artists which was organized by the International Federation of Actors (FIA) and UNESCO centres in Paris and Korea.
18-26.04.1992	TOBAV organized the 2nd World Children’s Theatres Festival in Antalya.
EKİM 1992	Çankaya Belediyesi ile ortaklaşa Çocuk ve Gençlik Oyunu Yazma Yarışmasının ikincisi düzenlendi.
8.01.1993	TOBAV became a member of the International Federation of Actors (FIA).
23.08. – 1.09.1993	TOBAV represented Turkey in the 10th World Amateur Theatres Festival in Monaco.
29 – 90.01.1993	The Seminar on Artist Associations and Unionization.
15 – 20.03.1993	The 5th Seminar on Drama in Education.
13 – 15.12.1993	Puppet and Shadow Play Festival in Kırşehir.
1 – 9.04.1994	TOBAV attended the 3rd World Children Theatres Festival in Lingen, Germany which was organized by IATA.
16.02.1994	The President Süleyman Demirel awarded the 1st Ankara Opera and Ballet Success Prizes for the 1993-94 season at the President’s Residence.
26.11.1994	A campaign called “Yes to Art” was organized; 160 tons of newspaper was delivered to SEKA throughout this campaign. “Yes to Art” continues to be the slogan of many activities of art.
15-30.07.1995	IATA’s 22nd World General Assembly, the World Amateur Theatres Festival and the Theatre Meeting of European Youth were held in Ankara under the title of “Three Activities in One in Ankara”. (A total of 1,400 people attended this activity from 80 countries).
05-07.12.1996	The Mediterranean Women Authors Symposium was held in Ankara. Many women authors attended this symposium as speakers from Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Malta, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel and Palestine. The main goal of this symposium was to gather the Mediterranean women authors under the friendship light of art, to look at the European integration from the women’s perspective, and to discuss the problems.
08.04.1996	The 75th birthday of Necati Cumalı was celebrated at Istanbul Taksim Theatre on the night which was organized by TOBAV and the Turkish Authors Union.
24.04.1996	In 1996, TOBAV Yıldız Alpar ballet prize of “Encouraging the         Young Talents” was shared among Tülay Ağırbaş and Giray Atalay who are the dancers of Istanbul State Opera. The prizes were awarded with a ceremony.
01-02.04.1996	The Artists General Assembly which was first held on March 27 – 28, 1995 in order to restructure an autonomous medium of art in Turkey came together again on April 1 – 22, 1996 at AKM. TOBAV attended this general assembly. According to the communiqué of this assembly, a consensus had to be established to maintain free thinking and creating, and the obstacles of democratization had to be eliminated. Again it was stated that the draft law of Turkish Art Institution would be a crucial step for the democratization of life.
6–8.05.1996	The 3rd General Assembly on Autonomous Restructuring of Art was organized in Akatlar Culture Centre by the Autonomous Art Council Initiative Committee which had been continuing its activities for three years in order to create an autonomous art. Our Foundation attended this general assembly and that year’s topic was determined as the artist rights and the freedom of organization.
17-22.06.1996	TOBAV’s Youth Theatre participated in Güzelyurt Orange Festival in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus with a very successful play called “Kuvay-ı Milliye Destanı” (The Epic of the Nationalist Forces).

28.06.1996	The 7th Alaçatı Theater Festival for Children and Youth was realized. Ankara Masal Theatre, İzmir Show Agency and Children’s Theatre, Nüans Theatre, TOBAV Youth Group, and Istanbul Theatre participated in the festival. Also foreign groups came from England, Rumania and Poland.
JULY 1996	TOBAV’s Youth Theatre Group attended the 23rd Nasreddin Hodja Festival.
1996	TOBAV attended the activities in Copenhagen which were organized within the framework of cultural exchange between Turkey and Europe (Culture City 96). It made a colourful contribution to the festival by way of a workshop carried out with the Turkish and Danish artists.
1996	The Environment and Art Festival of Schools was organized jointly by TOBAV and Ankara Governorship Environmental Protection Foundation. The festival aimed at creating an artistic process for the children and developing their sensitivity towards the environment. Various contests were organized between the primary and the secondary level schools in this festival.
1996	A children’s play called “Following the Shadows” was prepared jointly by artists from TOBAV, Hope Street, MYPT and Tivoli Theatre in three languages. After the tours in Turkey were completed, this play went on a tour to Hungary and England.
1996	TOBAV and Konya Governorship organized several activities        within the framework of “Yes to Art” campaign. The activities were spread through the year of 1996; and the topics of “environment and art”, “Mevlana and art”, “children and art”, “cinema and art” were investigated.
20.10.1996	“TOBAV Art Education Centre” was opened. Drama, theatre, dance and ballet courses were organized here.
19.11.1996	Under the scope of AGIT-99 summit held in Istanbul, TOBAV        participated in the NGO representatives meeting among 54 countries and 107 non-governmental organizations. TOBAV also made a declaration in this meeting and had the chance to introduce its areas of expertise to the other organizations.
20.12.1996	Roberto Cuilli, the founder and General Art Director of German Theatre an der Ruhr spoke in a conference on the present problems and the future functions of theatre.
25.12.1996	The National Art Committee and the Autonomous Art Council Initiative Committee which comprised 49 artists’ organizations including TOBAV censured the dismissal of 12 artists from Bakırköy Municipality Theatre. A declaration was made to the press in front of AKM building in order to object to the negative approaches against art and culture.
1996	TOBAV organized an art contest for children from all around        Turkey; the best 20 pictures were selected. It was decided that the published works (100 to each) were given to these 20 children.
1996	Within the framework of the public organizations activities which were organized under HABITAT II summit, TOBAV carried out a workshop on “Yes to Art”. TOBAV made a declaration to the press defending the view that HABITAT did not see art as a lifestyle and stated that the government’s violent acts against the non-governmental actions contradicted with the organization.
1996	TOBAV and Çankaya Municipality organized a joint play writing contest; but did not find any of the works praiseworthy both in the adults’ and the children’s categories. Kıvanç Nalça’s work called “Demayan Masalı” was awarded as the third best in the youth category.
14.04.1997	The 5th remembrance night for Oktay Akbal called “Our Artists under the Light of Illumination” was organized jointly by TOBAV and IDE Education and Organization.
30.05.1997	The International Federation of Actors (FIA), of which TOBAV is a member, organized its general assembly in Istanbul. TOBAV was the host of this organization of the federation which has the world’s theatre and movie stars as members. The meetings continued for 4 days and issues such as the member countries’ artistic problems, copyright and artist rights were addressed.
30.05 – 1.06.1997	Our Foundation organized the 2nd Amateur Theatres General Assembly at Mamak Municipality’s Erkan Yücel Theatre. It was decided to become organized under the name “Turkish Amateur Theatres Association” with the communiqué. Moreover, the intimidation approaches against art and theatre were censured.
15,16,17.11.1997	November 15 – 17, 1997            The “Turkish Theatre General Assembly” was held in Mersin by TOBAV with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture. The general assembly took 3 days. Approximately 130 people, actors and actresses attended the meetings from the universities, subsidized and private theatres, non-governmental organizations, and press. As a result of 6 different group works, a joint communiqué was published and presented to the Ministry of Culture. Several issues were agreed upon in the communiqué: the Turkish Theatre Law should be made; the plays should not be prohibited; functioning of the fully subsidized theatres should be arranged; the subsidized theatres should be made autonomous; the state should subsidize the theatres; children’s and youth theatres should be treated as a separate area of specialization; the basic criteria for quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the theatre schools should be determined; our traditional theatre should be protected; a National Theatre Archive should be established; emphasis should be made on culture and art in the visual and written media; a follow-up should be made for these decisions. The declarations of all the organizations which attended this general assembly in Mersin and the communiqué of the general assembly were published as a book.
23.08.1997	Hasan Ali Yücel play writing contest was organized. Under the scope of “Hasan Ali Yücel Year” which was agreed by UNESCO for his 100th birthday, Hasan Ali Yücel play writing contest was organized with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture. The prize winning play was chosen to be M. Nogay Kesim’s “Ağalık Belası”. Erhan Gökgücü with his play “Promete 1940”, Kazım Eryüksel with his play “Gri Gölgeler”, and Vural Paker with his play “Gençlik Yargılıyor” were awarded with the success prizes. Coşkun Irmak with his play “Terentius’un Afrikalısı”, Yılmaz Şekerbay with his play “Kibele”, and Tayfun Orhan with his play “Özel Bir Gün” were awarded with Special Appreciation Prizes of the Jury.
28.11.1997	The 1st Globe Theatre which has a very important role in the history of theatre was established in London in 1599. Shakespeare became a partner of the theatre. Later Globe Theatre was burnt in a fire. The Globe Theatre of today is a reconstruction of the 1st Globe Theatre which was built same as the original. The theatre had an open part in the middle and became wet with the rain. As a result of an examination made on the old ground, it was seen that the ground was filled with a mixture of hazelnut shells, pebbles, clay and sand. So this mixture would absorb the rain and did not cause dust. When NUR ÜZMEN told us that hazelnut shells were required during the reconstruction, our Foundation made a move; obtained 7.5 tons of hazelnut from Fiskobirlik free of any charges; and transported the shells to Ankara. The British Embassy sent the hazelnut shells to England by a warplane of the Royal British Airlines. As a result, the hazelnut shells took their places in the ground of Globe Theatre and TOBAV’s name was printed on the floor.
09.03.1998	TOBAV assigned the project called “Meeting of the Asian and       European Art”, which was planned for a long time and which was supposed to be held in Ankara, to the promotion fund of the Ministry of Culture and Prime Ministry. In the declaration which stated that our country could not integrate culturally in Europe within the process of integration in the European Union, TOBAV emphasized that our country would now have a new mission with this project.
1998	Within the framework of the education system which had been defended by TOBAV for years, educational drama courses were started to be provided for teachers.
24.02.1998	The President Süleyman Demirel awarded the 2nd Ankara Opera and Ballet Success Prizes for the 96-97 season at the President’s Residence.
27.03.1998	“TOBAV Afife Jale Theatre” was opened by Hikmet Çetin, President of the Assembly and Uluç Gürkan, Vice-President of the Assembly.
13-14.06.1998	In order to introduce children with the old children’s games,         which were forgotten as a result of urbanization and which used to be played on the streets, the 1st Street Culture Festival was organized in Ankara with the joint effort of TOBAV, Çankaya Municipality, and Ankara Provincial Education Directorate.
29.10.1998	Celebrations for the 75th Year of the Republic were carried out in Ankara by TOBSIM which is an affiliated organization of TOBAV. Within the framework of the preparations which were made for the 75th Year of Our Republic, TOBAV undertook organizing the celebration activities of Ankara. A ceremony was held in Kızılay Square; and a march was held with the accompaniment of a vehicle cortege which started in front of the old Turkish National Assembly building. Mountain climbers for METU climbed the skyscraper in Kızılay and they hoisted Turkish Flags for the 75th year. Soldiers and bands from the Ground Forces, Naval Forces, Air Forces and Gendarme Forces made a performance in Kızılay Square. We celebrated our 75th year with performances of folk dancers, waltz dancers, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, teachers’ choir, skyrockets, cinevision, barcovision, and concerts by famous stars. According to the Governorship records, this activity was the most magnificent ceremony with the highest number of participants. TOBAV started a joint aid campaign called “Art Organizations Support for Disaster” together with State Conservatories Support Association and OBAV for people who were harmed in the earthquake. The money which was collected in the campaign was granted to the Mayor in Izmit’s Değirmendere Province.

21.01.2000	TOBAV was the leader to establish the first Theatre Actors Professional Association (TOMEB)
12 – 20.05.2000	The 16th Denizli International Amateur Theatres Festival was realized. Local theatre groups from Ankara, Istanbul, Bursa, Diyarbakır, Manisa, Bulancak and Erzurum; and foreign theatre groups from Lithuania, the USA, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Czech Republic participated in the festival with one play each.
11.06.2000	Our Foundation supported the formation called “Non-Governmental Formation Hand in Hand for Atatürk Orman Çiftliği”, which aimed to announce our shared voice to the citizens of Ankara and to the public opinion against the sharing order violating Atatürk’s will, public interest, urbanization principles and law, together with the NGOs; and participated in this formation with its members and its Executive Board.
26.06 – 1.07.2000	2000The 11th Alaçatı International Theater Festival for Children and Youth was realized. Istanbul State Theatre, Tansaş Children’s Theatre, Diyarbakır Municipality’s Province Theatre, Güneş Theatre, and Yayla Art Centre participated in the festival. Also foreign groups came from England, Greece, Rumania Pakistan and Canada.
02 – 09.07.2000	Heyecan Nazlı Veziroğlu attended the 27th International Art and Communication Congress in Washington D.C., USA in 2000 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and TOBAV. There were 44 representatives from different countries. Heyecan Nazlı Veziroğlu presented a declaration called “The Cultural Dimension of Turkey’s Accession to the European Union”. She was awarded with a “Perfection Prize” in this conference.
02 – 08.12.2000	2000TOBAV participated in the “European Youth Festival” with a stand which was organized by GSM (Youth Services Centre) under the main sponsorship of the European Union and the General Directorate of Youth and Sports. Also TOBAV ANATOLIA GROUP realized a classical music concert in the festival’s opening ceremony.
28.04.2001	TOBAV started an activity and brought the university theatres together with the aim to make the theatre activities widespread in the schools. The centre to be established aimed to become a member of the World University Theatres Association. The first meeting which was also attended by the university authorities was held in our Foundation’s Head Office in Ankara on April 28, 2001. In this meeting; we informed the attendants about membership to the International University Theatres Association (IUTA) and the benefits of this attempt for the information exchange, festivals, and joint seminars. All the attendants stated that membership to the International University Theatres Association was crucial. A decision was made unanimously to establish a national centre with the aim to become a member of IUTA. The second meeting was again held in our Foundation’s Head Office on March 17, 2002.
05.08.2001	Our Foundation attended “HABITAT Social Development Project, Southeast Anatolia Preliminary Meeting” in Sakarya.
24.01.2001	Our Izmir Branch organized a remembrance ceremony for the 8th year after the death of Uğur Mumcu, who was a member of ADD Izmir Branch. Furthermore, it participated in the National Sovereignty Day ceremonies on April 23rd.
11.01.2001	TOBAV invited Rosina Pineyro, the official of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), to Turkey in order to find a solution to the problems which are encountered on the professional associations and copyrights, and to raise the level of professional criteria similar to the world standards. WIPO has an objective to protect the intellectual property rights. WIPO is a branch of the United Nations and it has representations in 173 countries. Its main objective is to protect the copyrights and intellectual property rights. Pineyro stated that Turkey had long processes ahead to complete. She also stated that a special law had to be made, seminars and conferences had to be carried out by way of inviting representatives of organizations with the mediation of the state, and this issue fell under the scope of interstate law.
12.02.2001	We started to publish the Foundation’s magazine called “Oynayan İnsan” (Playing Human).
12-18.05.2001	The 17th Denizli International Amateur Theatres Festival was        realized. Local theatre groups such as Izmir Dokuz Eylül University, Bursa Culture and Art Foundation’s Theatre Group,     Ordu Municipality’s Karadeniz Theatre, Ankara Özgür Theater, and Denizli Municipality’s City Theatre; and foreign theatre groups from Spain, Lithuania, Russia, Bulgaria, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus attended the festival. The festival had been going on for 17 years; and a total of 170 groups had attended the festival (85 local and 85 foreign groups). Symposiums, panels and seminars were held in this festival within these 17 years; and experts have attended these as speakers.
28.05.2001	Our Foundation’s Representation in Adana organized a concert in order to raise fund to be able to send Çukurova University Conservatory’s student Berna Uğurlar abroad for education.
09.07.2001	An amendment was made on article 1 of the Law Number 657 dated on 1970 which covers institutions like TOBAV and a the statement of “until a special law come into force” was added. TOBAV stated that this special law should be made after a waiting period of 30 years. TOBAV prepared a draft decree law in 2001 within the framework of the authority law which was made by the government. The said draft was based on TRT institution by presenting it as a similar case. This draft was seen appropriate by the Ministry of Culture and communicated to the Prime Ministry. An NGO meeting was held on June 30, 2001 in the Ankara Commerce Chamber facilities in order to provide support for this draft law. The draft decree law, which was drawn up to improve the employee and financial rights of the employees of the State Theatres and State Opera and Ballet and which was sent to the Ministry culture, was adopted as a result of the meeting. A decision was made on to organize an open air show and a press meeting in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir in July together with the supporter organizations. The synchronous open air show and press meeting were held in Ankara, Istanbul and    Izmir on July 9, 2001. The action in Ankara started with TOBAV ANATOLIA Group’s show under the scope of the State Opera and Ballet. Later, TAMER LEVENT, President of our Foundation made a speech. NİHAT HAKAN, Member of the Executive Board read the press declaration and the action was  ended. 120 initiative non-governmental organizations supported this action.
26-29.09.2001	Our President TAMER LEVENT attended the works called “A Must of A – Muce” concerning art in education and culture in Europe which were carried out in Holland.
26-28.09.2001	Our representation in Izmir attended the organization called “1st Izmir Turkish Days” which included conferences and panels. A National Independence Conference was organized together with the democratic mass organizations in Izmir.
06-12.052001	TOBAV and Kayseri Erciyes University decided to carry out “Erciyes University 1st Theatre Festival” and they started working on it.
08-11.01.2002	Our Foundation attended the meeting called “International Law Assembly 2002” about the intellectual property rights and competence law.
10 – 13.01.2002	“The 1st Necati Cumalı Meeting” was held in Urla with the contributions of Urla Municipality, TOBAV and Turkish Authors Union. The authors, artists and the citizens of Urla were extremely interested in the activities.
2002	As this year was announced as the year of Nazım Hikmet; Güneş Theatre and TOBAV from Turkey and Membran Theatre – Wiesbaden from Germany jointly prepared a play of Nazım Hikmet called “Bu Yürek – Testament – Nazım Hikmet 2002”, with the aim to open Nazım Hikmet’s philosophy and utopia to the world and with contributions from the Turkish Ministry of Culture. The play would be demonstrated in Turkish, German, French and Spanish with a total of 12 people. The premiere was realized in Ankara in March 2002. The play would be played in Germany in April 2002 and in Canada in September 2002.
30.03.2002	A meeting was held together with the non-governmental organizations in Ankara on March 30, 2002 concerning the Asiaopalia Festival which would bring the Asian and the European countries together each year in 8 different branches of art in Ankara under the leadership of Mülkiyeliler Birliği Foundation and TOBAV.
24.03.2002	“The 3rd Izmir World Poems Night” was organized in cooperation with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, county municipalities, Provincial Culture Directorate, and Poets Association
25.03. 2002	Our Foundation attended the panel called “The 1st Theatre Days” which was organized by Fatih University on March 27th, The World Theatres Day.
27.10.2002	For the Republic’s 79th year and within the framework of Republic week activities, “Republic Week Tunalı Hilmi Festival” was organized with the participation of music, ballet, opera, theatre, traditional dance groups; bands, choirs; and orchestras by way of closing a part of Tunali Hilmi Avenue between Büklüm Street and Kuğulu Park to traffic and by the support of the non-governmental organizations in Ankara under the leadership of TOBAV.
12 – 26.04.2003	An art exhibition called “Aesthetic Encounters” was opened at TOBAV’s art gallery with the participation of Aynur Pehlivanlı, Ayten Timuroğlu, Bilge Amcaoğlu, Gülten Gökay, Kamer Kurdoğlu and Zahide Yükseler.

09.05.2003	Our project called “Aegean Neighbours Youth Meeting”, which had been presented to the European Union by our Foundation, was accepted by the European Union. The symphonic orchestra composed of young people from Turkey and Greece realized a symphonic concert at Bilkent Concert Hall on the World European Day. The orchestra comprised 40 Turkish and 40 Greek; and was led jointly by the Turkish Conductor Rengim Gökmen and the Greek conductor Andreas Pilarinos. A Turkish, a Greek and a universal composition were played in the concert.
2004	The organization for the Competition on Play writing which was held by TOMEB(The Professional Actors’Unıon) and supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism ,was realized by our Foundation.
2005	The 1st International Childrens’ Theatre Festival was held in the Black Sea town of Ordu between the  6th and 12th of June 2005, with the cooperation of TOBAV and the Municipality of Ordu. There were groups to represent Japan, Georgia, Romania and Serbia and Montenegro from abrood. The Antalya State Theatre, Trabzon State Theatre, and The Black Sea Theatre of the Ordu Municipality also took part in the event each with one activity. TAB Arts and Tan Sağtürk Ballet School performed as well in the Opening Day of the Festival. The Festival closed with a concert of Turkish Radio and Television Trabzon Children’s Choir.