Let Your Art Meet Happiness

Art is the most natural way for children to understand the world, to make their dreams visible and to embrace life with happiness. The 8th International Istanbul Children and Youth Art Biennial, which sets out with the theme “Let Your Art Meet HAPPINESS”, is a platform we have created so that every child and young person, from kindergarten to 12th grade, can express themselves through their art.

Over two months, children will speak of their happiness in their own languages through painting, music, dance, drama, sculpture and installation, and we, as art educators, will stand by them and support them throughout this biennial.

Happiness becomes visible sometimes in the exuberance of a colour, sometimes in the rhythm of a melody, and sometimes in the freedom of movement.

The branches of art are not separate from one another; they are like bridges that touch each other. Painting reaches out to music, dance to sculpture, drama to installation, and a shared space of creation emerges. As our children express their happiness in these fields of art, they will look to the future with more hope and happiness, and in a more contemporary and freer way.

Isn’t this what we all want?

Beyond being a form of individual expression, the biennial is also a tool that strengthens a culture of solidarity and learning together. Taking part in ways suited to their age and experience, children will turn journeys that begin with a single small line into a great space of collective happiness. Every picture they draw, every song they sing and every play or dance they stage will be not only an individual achievement but a happiness created together, one that will influence their futures and may well remain among the most important guides in their lives.

The call “Let Your Art Meet HAPPINESS” stands for a space where children can freely bring out their creativity and look to the future with hope.

Our International Istanbul Children and Youth Art Biennial, held this year for the eighth time, is a place where children are not only spectators but active makers and agents of change, and where art becomes a bridge that strengthens both individual and social togetherness. This year, it begins with HAPPINESS.

So that children can always smile and walk confidently into the future, we art educators will always guide them and be their strongest supporters.

Whatever profession they choose in the future, we will help make sure they practise it in the best possible way without losing their connection to art.

Inspired by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s words, “A nation that has lost its art has lost one of its lifelines,” we will not allow our lifelines to be cut!

Come on, children, now it’s your turn! How about letting your art meet happiness?

Dr. Zeynep Öztürk