Beral Madra about Istanbul as European City of Culture 2010

By Julide Karahan from Today's Zaman

Artists should be given the attention they deserve

Beral Madra: “2010 should be perceived as an overall development project. On the surface are projects for new museums, places, venues and urban transformation. But the job is not just constructing buildings. The question is whether a group of people in a hierarchical structure can carry the responsibility of implementing everything. If you just list the names and the corresponding jobs they are doing, this structure will arise. Former coordinators of European capitals of culture told us to focus on one thing: ‘We made a mistake by not including artists, don’t make the same mistake.’ Another thing is structuring the venues where these cultural activities will take place and the staff that are going to work at those venues.”