Esra A. Aysun, Head of Arts British Council Turkey, who has been programming and hosting the Festival Arena since May 2020 has chaired the last episode. The programme was broadcasted on Açık Radio (95.0) on Monday, 26 October at 14.00. As the local curator of the upcoming WOW Istanbul Festival, Aysun revealed the highlight discussions at the Festival Arena which has up to date showcased twenty-four prominent names of civil society and creative sectors, commenting on the current discussions on gender equality and the learning points to be carried to WOW Istanbul Festival.

Esra Aysun - Head of Arts British Council Turkey

Esra A. Aysun, is an arts administrator, working as a consultant, lecturer and writer in the creative sector in Istanbul,. She has been acting as Head of Arts at the British Council in Turkey to date since 2014 and is a board member of Arter since 2019. Aysun completed her BA at the Sociology Department of Boğaziçi University (Istanbul) and MA at the New York University, Administration of Performing Arts (New York). Since 2003, she has led a career of management and consultancy at various institutions of culture and arts in Istanbul like Dot Theatre and Museum of Innocence; as well as lecturing on Arts Management at universities of Yıldız Teknik, Yeditepe, İTÜ MİAM and Mimar Sinan from 2005 to 2013.

Aysun has been an advisory board member of the IETM Informal Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (Brussels), Balkan Express (Slovenia) and a board member of the Cimetta Fund (Paris) and AICA (Istanbul) (2008-2013). Aysun also served as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Pavilion of Turkey in the 55th Venice Biennale (2013).

Aysun undertook the editorship of the Current Issues booklet of the arts magazine Sanat Dünyamız in 2014-15 and is the editor of the book Sanat Yönetimi Üzerine Konuşmalar (Talks on Arts Management) published by Yapi Kredi Publications in 2014. As the curator of WOW- Women of the World Festival Istanbul, which will be organized in Istanbul by the British Council in 2021, Aysun curated and hosted  Festival Alanı, a radio show on gender equality at Açık Radyo on air from May to October 2020.

You may find the transcript of the episode recording below. Contact us on arts.info@britishcouncil.org if you need to access to the content in another format.
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