Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkinma Dernegi

Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkınma Dernegi was established as an NGO in Sinop, Turkey to develop and implement economic, social and cultural strategies of Sinop, which has a vision of being a cultural and educational tourism town in May 2014. The stakeholders of Sinopale - The International Sinop Biennial, which has been performing since 2006, established Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkinma Dernegi to stimulate the cultural synergy to the way to the social and economic development of the town. The Hal Building, where the center of our association is located is being transferred into a platform where social, cultural, economical services and products will be developed. With the support of the Municipality of Sinop and the collaboration of the Association of European Culture, Chameleon Project Management & Design, The Innovative Industrial Research Center of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University and the Association of Street is Ours, Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkinma Dernegi will coordinate and bring the Hal Meeting Center project to life. With the Hal Meeting Center, Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkinma Dernegi aims to develop projects in order to support social and cultural entrepreneurship and encourage active citizenship with the collaboration of NGOs, public institutions and private sectors. Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkinma Dernegi has two offices both in Sinop, where the main office is, and in Istanbul. The staff in these offices work together in coordination. Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkinma Dernegi has experienced staff of Sinopale - the International Sinop Biennial, - http://sinopale.org/ - which was supported by the Association of European Culture until 2014 for 10 years. Since 2014, Sinop Surdurulebilir Kalkinma Dernegi has been responsible for Sinopale and its experienced staff. Sinopale, the International Sinop Biennial, which is the second biggest biennial in Turkey after the Istanbul Biennial, is the title of an international project that, in the context of local development, draws the civil society together with the purpose of building a dialogue through culture and arts, within the framework of the “artistic production based on sharing” model. This project is realised biennially and aims at working at urban, national and international levels in order to make citizens of all ages perceive a new living spaces of their own with a vision for the future, reflect on urban problems, share the historical collective memory and organise it by means of artistic production, and to create a better social living space. We organise several international workshops between the biennials: Design for Community Based Sustainable Development, Oral History and Documentary Filmmaking, and the Breath of Sinop. The workshops, which are cultural and artistic, host both national and international artists. The main significant feature of our workshops is that the artists create their work by interacting with the locals and local materials after they observe and discuss everything with the inhabitants. We also have street festivals called: "Ayda 1 Sokak Bizim" Every Month Street is Ours. The event, which aims to revive street culture which is being forgotten day by day, transforms the street into car-free and makes it available to be used by pedestrians, disabled people and cyclists. Main objectives are to create a live street where the children can have fun and play games; the adults can have conversation while they are drinking tea together only once a month.