GALA MODERN IN SUPPORT OF EDUCATION
“Gala Modern” was held on the evening of Saturday, December 12 at Istanbul Modern with the aim of providing opportunities for the education of children and young people by supporting Istanbul Modern’s educational programs once again in 2016. 600 guests attended the evening, bringing together leading figures from the business, art, and media worlds.
This year’s “Gala Modern” evening was sponsored by Eren Holding. As every year, a special menu was prepared for the evening by the Istanbul Modern Restaurant, another of the sponsors of “Gala Modern”, while the venue was designed by Vakko Espace for the evening and its organization carried out by Dream Design Factory (dDf).
Rana Erkan Tabanca was the voluntary presenter for the “Gala Modern” evening, during which a support contest directed by Raffi Portakal and Maya Portakal Bitargil was carried out to raise funding for the museum’s educational activities.
Halit Ergenç contributed to the fundraising by introducing the educational programs to be held in conjunction with Istanbul Modern’s new exhibition TILL IT’S GONE: An Exhibition on Nature and Sustainability.
The following artists created special works for the “Gala Modern” evening to support Istanbul Modern’s educational projects: Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Adnan Çoker, William Kentridge, Sitki Kösemen, Nuri Kuzucan, Kemal Önsoy, Ardan Özmenoglu, Adrián Villar Rojas, TUNCA, Ziya Tacir, Richard Wentworth, Pae White, and Autoban (Seyhan Özdemir Sarper, Sefer Çaglar).
The 13 artists took part in the support contest with 15 works and raised 2,195,000 TL for the museum’s educational projects. 300,000 TL was earmarked to support the educational programs to be held in conjunction with Istanbul Modern’s new exhibition TILL IT’S GONE.
Chair of the Board of Istanbul Modern Oya Eczacibasi stated that thanks to the contributions made by Istanbul Modern’s Friends of Education, the educational programs have become more varied and that this year, 42 thousand children and young people have benefited from the programs.
The troupe Enra presented a specialperformance of their piece Pleiades. Following the support contest, the evening ended with the after party, which lasted into the late hours.
The Cultural Ambassadors of Istanbul Modern who organized the “Gala Modern” evening are as follows: Esra Ekmekçi Çalicioglu, Levent Çalikoglu, Banu Çarmikli, Oya Eczacibasi, Seli Elvasvili, Ronit Gülcan, Melkan Gürsel, Merve Gürsel, Cem Hakko, Banu Ipeker, Esra Özsüer, Maya Portakal Bitargil, Raffi Portakal, Oksan Atilla Sanön, Asli Soyak, Asuman Sener, Rana Erkan Tabanca, and Taha Tatlici