Learning for Heritage Conservation
The Foundation is committed to deepening societal understanding of the nation’s heritage and offers a variety of educational programs emphasizing heritage preservation for future generations, the development of people’s sense of community, and the quality of the local environment in both town and country. Programs for the public, especially children and young people are designed to raise awareness concerning environmental and cultural issues, to initiate a sense of joint ‘responsibility’ and encourage organizing for possible solutions.
Seminars, discussions, conferences and trips are organized locally and nationally with ÇEKÜL representatives, universities, local administrations, local NGOs, and other related local and national institutions. Periodic environmental education programs for primary school children are carried out. On-site Summer Schools are also held annually in historic towns for college students of architecture, art and archeology. ÇEKÜL Academy offers regular training programs for the technical staff of local governments, who are responsible from conservation projects.
Since its establishment in 2009, ÇEKÜL Academy has been conveying ÇEKÜL's conservation understanding and the experience of its experts to local government professionals. ÇEKÜL Academy provides lectures under the heading of cultural heritage and its conservation to the municipal employees.
The first program title of Academy is the "Cultural Preservation Education Program". Under this program several lectures have been organized referring to basic restoration principles and techniques, historical building - new building relationship, approaches to repurposing, tendering process in restoration works and progress payment, legislation. With the changing needs in recent years, new topics such as ecological approaches in cities, urban design guides, culture-oriented conservation and urban development strategies, the water structures within the scope of urban heritage and protection process are included in the scope of the program. thousands of professionals have benefited from these lectures for 10 years.
The second training program title is "Cultural Heritage Training in the Field Program". The conservation visions of cities that have gained experience in this domain, planning methods, problems they encounter in practice and solutions are shared on the spot and discussed through the program. To date, trainings have been held in 33 different cities.
Another program carried out by ÇEKÜL Academy is “Heritage Management Plan Training Program”. 86 professionals, who are experts in their fields, participated in the program that started in 2015. Throughout the program, which consists of 6 modules, universal norms related to the concept of cultural heritage and its management, the scope and importance of the UNESCO World Heritage List, the protection, survival and promotion of cultural assets, methods and practices are conveyed.
Finally, the "Cities and Museums, from Installation to Business Training Program” started in 2019 and consists of 3 modules; has been included in the titles of the Academy. Within the scope of the program, starting from archive and inventory studies, experience sharing and case studies are carried out under many headings including exhibition and arrangement, collection management and legislation, visitor and event management, communication studies and administrative structuring.
The Towns Belong to the Children Heritage Education Program was introduced in 2003 to develop an understanding and appreciation of heritage in the young generation. Designed as an experiential learning model for 12-year-olds, the program aims to enhance a sense of identity, an awareness of local history and their tangible/intangible cultural heritage. The UNESCO funded project aimed to acquaint the new generations with the local cultural characteristics and history of the cities where they live. In the meantime the educational program is standardized to be used by teachers in formal education as well. Towns Belong to the Children was followed by several others, namely Cultural Envoys, Historical Buildings Tell the Story of Istanbul, Trees Tell the Story of Istanbul, City Museums Program, Fruits and Vegetables on Season.