Art Club of İçel ( tr, İçel Sanat Kulübü) is a nonprofit cultural organization in

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. İçel is the former name of

Mersin Province Mersin Province ( tr, ), formerly İçel Province ( tr, ), is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of fo ...

. Founded in 1989, the club plays an important role in culturel life of Mersin.

Activities

*Each year, the club hosts conferences by celebrated academicians from various universities and literary circles of Turkey. It also hosts series of conferences on specific topics such as

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

etc. in collaboration with universities such as University of Mersin, University of İstanbul and

University of Lecce The University of Salento ( it, Università del Salento, called until 2007 ''Università degli Studi di Lecce'') is a university located in Lecce, Italy. It was founded in 1955 by Giuseppe Codacci Pisanelli. The university of Salento commenced act ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. *Two art galleries of the club serve supporting artists, sculptors and photographers. *Frequently, concerts and poem performances are held in the main hall. Especially in summertime, some concerts are held in scenic rural areas around Mersin. *The members are informed about all kinds of cultural activities in Mersin via cell phones and internet. *Various art courses are offered to enthusiast amateurs including members and nonmembers of the club alike. *The club participates in annual

Music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...

of Mersin.

Outdoor recreation

The club organises weekend hikes, and in some cases

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

. Non members are also invited. The track and the level of hiking difficulty is announced in advance by the group leaders. The groups are transported to an appropriate starting point, where they start hiking. The average hiking time is about seven or eight hours, excluding lunch time. During hiking, the hikers enjoy picturesque

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

scenery and sometimes explore archaeological wealth that is quite widespread around Mersin. In past several times, the hikers informed the academic authorities about their findings like caves, ruins etc. Some antiques had been found during hikes and bestowed to

Mersin Museum Mersin Museum is the main museum of Mersin, Turkey. It is operated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. However after establishing a new museum, i.e., Mersin Archaeological Museum most of the exhibits were moved to the new museum. History ...

Media and international relations

The club publishes a monthly magazine. The essays are usually written by club members, and organized by the editorial board of the club. The emphasis is on the club activities, historical anecdotes about Mersin, examples of poetry and sometimes drawings. The club has an internet website, at which all club activities are published. The club also distributes free e-mail addresses to members with club domain name. The club sometimes participates in mutual projects with the art lovers of German city of

Neustadt an der Weinstrasse Neustadt (German for ''new town'' or ''new city'') may refer to: Places * Neustadt (urban district) Czech Republic *Neustadt an der Mettau, Nové Město nad Metují *Neustadt an der Tafelfichte, Nové Město pod Smrkem *Nové Město na Mora ...

, which is a partner city of Yenişehir, a municipality of Mersin.

Service buildings

The club uses three old Mersin houses in the downtown that are aged more than a century and are situated is Sanat Sokağı ( en, Art Street). The street is a

pedestrian zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

and hosts street performances, handicraft displays and painting exhibitions. ;The Yellow House The 100 seat conference hall in the ground floor is named after Prof.

Nevit Kodallı Nevit Kodallı (12 December 1924, Mersin – 1 September 2009, Mersin) was a Turkish composer of western-influenced classical music including operas and ballets. In 1948 he travelled to Paris where he studied with Arthur Honegger and Nadia Boul ...

, a well-known classical music composer, who was a citizen of Mersin. Minor concerts are also held in this hall. The top floor on the other hand is reserved for drama and music courses. ;The Green House The art gallery in the ground floor is named after Teoman Ünüsan, a former governor of Mersin. The administrative branches as well as the 3,000 book library is in the top floor. ;The Clubhouse The restaurant at the ground floor has a garden with century-old trees is quite attractive during summertime. The top floor is reserved for various activities. The small art gallery is named after Ayşe Uğural and

Müfide İlhan Müfide İlhan (19 February 1911 – 2 February 1996) was a mayor of Mersin, Turkey in the early 1950s. She is known as being the first woman mayor in Turkey. Early life Müfide İlhan was born on 19 February 1911 in İstanbul.Kudret Ünal:''Mü ...

. Müfide İlhan, a former mayor of Mersin, was Turkey's very first female mayor (in 1950-1951). At this floor, there are also rooms reserved for mountaineering, art courses, photography and folklore.

References

External links