This year's festival will be organized under the theme "Solidarity Empowers" and all events will be free and open to everyone for two days.
This year the festival will open with a session on "Civil Society and Solidarity in the Age of Crises". In the session, based on the solidarity experiences of representatives from culture and arts, earthquake solidarity and women's organizations, we will seek answers to the questions of how we can strengthen solidarity as civil society organizations, how we can expand the social base of solidarity, how we can overcome geographical and human boundaries, the ethics of solidarity, and what new, creative solidarity experiences can be.
Voices of Solidarity at Civil Voices Festival
In addition to the main session, civil society organizations working in the cities affected by the February Earthquakes will share their experiences in the fight against disaster in different forums.
From the first day of fieldwork, Afet Platformu (Disaster Platform), Lotus Kadın Derneği (Lotus Women's Association), Kurye Hakları Derneği (Courier Rights Association) representing motorcycle couriers who rapidly delivered necessities to the most inaccessible areas in the early days of the earthquake, and Defne Kadın Kooperatifi (Defne Women's Cooperative), an organization that sustained itself through production after the disaster, will be present at our festival.
Izmir Branch of Türk Psikologlar Derneği (Turkish Psychological Association) will be at the festival with a panel titled "Psychological Resilience and Flexibility" and Çocuk Çalışmaları Derneği (Child Studies Association) will be at the festival with a workshop titled "Child Studies in Times of Crisis". Sivil Düşün, which designed a special support mechanism called "Gayret" after the Kahramanmaras Earthquakes, will tell the stories of the "Gayret" beneficiaries about their methods of combating the effects of the disaster and their stories of healing each other in solidarity. SGDD-ASAM Search and Rescue Dogs will be with us at the festival to represent our friends who play a critical role in search and rescue operations and will organize a show.
Civil society organizations working in various fields in different cities will also take part in the festival with workshops, panels, plays and various performances. CSOs will also have the opportunity to promote their work at the stands they will open.
To review the festival program: https://www.sivilsesler.org/en/civil-voices-festival