Women and Culture in Türkiye in 2026: Exhibitions, Theatre and Community Production

[TURKIYE]

Women and Culture in Türkiye in 2026: Exhibitions, Theatre and Community Production

Exhibitions shaped by learning, voices on stage and crafts reaching the public: moments that reveal the variety of women's participation in cultural life.

Cultural and local programmes in Türkiye during 2026 have featured women in roles extending beyond that of the subject of an artwork. Women have appeared as makers, learners presenting the results of their training, performers telling stories of social experience, and craft producers showing their work directly to the public. These examples span Istanbul, Çanakkale, Ayvalık, Ankara, Nilüfer, Çorum and İzmir, taking different forms in each city.

Following these details helps explain what cultural participation means. Visiting an exhibition is a different experience from contributing to a collective artwork, just as appearing in a play differs from presenting a product at a craft market. These activities share the movement of women's experiences into public spaces where people can see and discuss them, while each remains defined by its own programme and scale. They are documented examples from 2026, rather than a comprehensive measure of all women's participation in Türkiye.

The library at SALT Galata on Bankalar Caddesi in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Archive photograph for illustration.

Istanbul: learning takes shape in work shown to the public

Enstitü İstanbul İSMEK opened “Inspiring Women – Awakening 2” at Artİstanbul Feshane as part of its International Women's Day programme. The institute's report, published on 9 March 2026, confirmed the exhibition's opening, with the announced visiting period continuing until 18 March. Works included ceramics, photography, painting and sculpture, jewellery design, weaving, graphic design and other disciplines. Work was also shown at the Ayvansaray Art and Design Gallery and the Bahçelievler Graphic and Technical Design School.

The opening included a discussion about women who had changed their lives through learning and making. The exhibition thus offers a window onto a process lasting longer than the visiting period: acquiring a skill, experimenting with it and developing work that can be shown. Bringing ceramics, photography and textiles together also allows audiences to see the variety of forms expression can take. A handmade object need not be merely a souvenir, nor a photograph merely a record; each can carry its maker's experiences and perspective on a place or everyday life.

The city through women's lenses

İSMEK's programme included an announced workshop, “Photography Marathon: Istanbul Through Women's Eyes”, on 2 March 2026, from 11 am to 4 pm at Eminönü Square and the entrance to the Egyptian Bazaar. The announcement set out a photography route led by instructor Elif Egüz Taşdan, intended to present Istanbul from women's perspectives. The institute also announced “Collective Production” sessions at Feshane on 3, 4, 5 and 6 March, using contemporary embroidery techniques for creative expression.

In both formats, participation begins with a specific action. A photographer chooses what deserves attention; an embroidery participant builds expression through colour, materials and shared work. The programme therefore extends beyond welcoming viewers to finished pieces, offering a way to learn how to make work. The workshop details here describe the announced programme, rather than providing attendance totals or a record of what each participant produced.

8 March on Istanbul's stages: stories become voices

On 8 March 2026, Istanbul City Theatres presented a staged reading entitled “Stories of Empowerment – For Solidarity” at Müze Gazhane's Meydan Stage. Directed by Aslı İçözü, it drew on texts about women's experiences and confronting violence. On the same day, “You Are More Beautiful Than Istanbul” was performed at the Kerem Yılmazer Stage in Üsküdar. Written and directed by Murat Mahmutyazıcıoğlu, the play presents the stories of three women against the backdrop of the city.

Theatre here provides a space to hear experiences rather than simply name them. A staged reading, which foregrounds text and voice, differs from a production that builds characters and relationships on stage. A work need not offer a direct solution to every issue to have cultural significance: it may give audiences a language for discussing experiences previously distant from public conversation. These descriptions remain tied to the works presented by the theatres, without turning their themes into a single judgement about Turkish society as a whole.

A women's theatre festival travels between cities

The organiser of the Kadın Oyunları, or Women's Plays, Festival documented its 2026 stops in Çanakkale from 7 to 12 March, Ayvalık from 13 to 17 March, Ankara from 3 to 7 April, and Nilüfer from 15 to 21 June. The municipalities hosted programmes in local cultural centres and theatres. In Nilüfer, the venue was Ormandaki Kulübe, the Cabin in the Forest, within Balat Atatürk Forest, adding a different setting to the performance experience.

In Ankara, the programme spread five evenings, each beginning at 8 pm, between the Doğan Taşdelen Contemporary Arts Centre and the Atatürk Arts Centre. The list included “The Labour Trilogy”, “Lie Low” and “The Poets' Cemetery”, with free admission subject to the venues' ticket arrangements. The festival's movement shows how women's stories can reach new audiences beyond a single city. It also reminds readers that a free performance may still require a seat reservation, and that participation arrangements are determined locally.

Notable moments in the 2026 programmes

Place	Date	Form of participation
Istanbul – Eminönü	2 March	A photography workshop programme seen through women's eyes
Istanbul – Feshane	March; visiting period until 18 March	Inspiring Women exhibition and work developed through learning
Istanbul – Gazhane and Üsküdar	8 March	A staged reading and a play about women's experiences
Çanakkale and Ayvalık	7–12 and 13–17 March	Two stops on the theatre festival's route
Çorum	24–28 March	Puduhepa cultural festival programme
Ankara	3–7 April	Five announced theatre evenings
Nilüfer	15–21 June	The theatre festival in a forest setting
Çankaya – Ankara	5–6 September	A festival of women's work and craft production

Nilüfer Municipality's Nâzım Hikmet Cultural Centre in Bursa. Archive photograph for illustration.

Çorum: a festival bearing Puduhepa's name

Çorum Municipality held the third Puduhepa Women's Culture Festival, with an announced programme from 24 to 28 March 2026. In a report dated 25 March, the provincial Directorate of Family and Social Services confirmed that the programme opened with a procession and an opening event focusing on women's contributions to society. The municipal programme included theatre and a Puduhepa-themed painting exhibition at Veli Paşa Han, in collaboration with the Çorum Association of Visual Artists, as well as a concert.

Choosing the name of a woman from Hittite history connects the festival with the region's past, while the contemporary event remains distinct from any attempt to reduce that past to a single message. The connection can be read as an effort to open a dialogue between local identity and the work produced by women today. An exhibition gains depth when visitors engage with a painting, its techniques and its maker alongside the historical name bringing the programme together, turning memory into a starting point for artistic interaction.

İzmir: culture within a space for public participation

İzmir Metropolitan Municipality announced its 2026 International Women's Day programme under the slogan “There Is Equality Between Us”. The main programme was scheduled for 6, 7 and 8 March in Kültürpark, alongside activities in different parts of the city. It brought together stands run by women's cooperatives and community organisations, workshops, talks and performances, allowing cultural activities to share a space with information about opportunities to participate and local services.

This arrangement differs from a single artistic evening. Visitors can move between a displayed work, a producer's stand and a workshop or talk, meeting people and organisations active around them. Such encounters may help build wider local relationships, but announcing a programme does not measure how long those relationships last or how much changes afterwards. What the programme does establish is that it included several forms of participation within an announced schedule and a familiar public space in the city.

September in Çankaya: 250 women producers meet the public

The focus shifted to craft production at the ninth Women's Labour Festival, held on 5 and 6 September 2026 in Ankara's Ahlatlıbel Atatürk Park. Çankaya Municipality's closing report, published on 7 September, recorded 250 women producers taking part across 25 stands. Displays ranged from jewellery and textiles to decorative objects and handmade designs, alongside music, dance, children's activities and wooden games.

The festival also included a workshop making marteniçka bracelets in solidarity with earthquake-affected areas. Women's cooperatives and the Women's Counselling Centre brought together product displays and information about local organisations' work. These details help explain the festival as a cultural and social gathering as well as a direct market. The participation figure belongs to this edition, according to the closing report: it does not reveal sales values or mean that all participants had the same production conditions or opportunities to reach customers.

How should we read women's presence in cultural life?

These examples reveal three related opportunities: to learn and make work, to exhibit or perform it, and to connect with audiences, buyers or institutions. They may intersect at one event, as at a craft festival, while an exhibition or theatre performance may concentrate on a particular aspect. Reading this variety is more accurate than treating every activity as a single celebration, and more useful for readers who want to understand what the 2026 programmes actually added to public life.

They also raise cultural questions to follow after events end. Does the training continue? Is new space made available for work? Do performances reach other cities? Does the relationship between producers and audiences endure? These are questions for analysis and follow-up, rather than proven outcomes of the programmes described. The value of the year's news lies in the tangible starting points it offers, with clear places, dates and forms of production, showing women taking part in making everyday culture through the lens, the canvas, the stage and craft.

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