HER YERDE SANAT DERNEGI

Art Anywhere Association is a registered non-governmental organisation based in Mardin, Turkey established in September 2012. Art Anywhere Association is offering child protection opportunities through social circus pedagogy to children and youth, who otherwise would not have access to arts and social activities. Art Anywhere Association’s inclusive approach reaches local and migrant children alike, hence children participating in activities and events have different backgrounds and speak a variety of languages. Art Anywhere Association has several Sirkhanes – offers a safe, creative space for Syrian and Iraqi refugee children, as well as local children and youth. The centers offers activities and lessons including but not limited to painting, drawing, music, clownery, handicrafts, analog photography and darkroom, juggling, acrobatics, and physical theatre with local and international artists and trainers. The centers are currently at capacity, serving around 300 children daily and since 2012 reached out more than 400.000 children through festival, events and workshops. The Sirkhane’s are located in the old town, in İstasyon town, in Nusaybin Town. Art Anywhere Association also has a mobile education center called Flying Library in Nusaybin town and a mobile circus unit that is called Galaxy for the children in rural areas. The mobile circus “Galaxi” is part of an EU-funded project aimed at facilitating access to specialised protection and other welfare services for Syrians and non-Syrian refugees in Turkey. Existing services include EU-supported social welfare and education schemes such as the Emergency Social Safety Net Program (ESSN) or the Conditional Cash Transfer for Education Program (CCTE), which support parents in sending their children to school. Art Anywhere educates select youth in trainers’ trainings, allowing them to become trainers for their community. Through educating trainers amongst the youth and young adults, the act of social art education becomes an integral aspect of community building. Working as a trainer gives young people a feeling of meaningfulness in their everyday life, and provides them with an opportunity to gain work experience and thus improve their opportunities for employment in the future. Art Anywhere also aims at encouraging girls and young women to take initiative and become leaders in their communities.