Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi


Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi is located in Sakarya, Turkey and a non-governmental organization focusing on educational and cultural activities. Established in 2003 by a group of young intellectuals from Sakarya University and local notables from the city, Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi is one of the leading civil-society organizations in Sakarya.

History

Motivated by the lack of any civil-society organization bringing local intellectuals together in Sakarya, a group of academician established Bilgievi in 2003. Its first building was located in Çark Avenue, the central avenue of Sakarya. In 2004, Bilgievi started its education programs, covering wide range of courses ranging from art history to philosophy. Local community and university students were main attendants of these programs. Bilgievi also provided a platform for local political figures to rise their voice and share their ideas to local community.
In June 2006, Bilgievi had to change its name as Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi because one of the leading political party in Turkey started to establish local organizations under the same name all around Turkey. In 2012, it moved to another building located within Kültürpark, the main urban park of Sakarya.

Activities

Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi mainly provides semester-based education programs to local community and university students. It also occasionally opens training courses on art ranging from Paper marbling to Ney. Since 2012, Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi organizes adaptation programs for foreign students in Sakarya University in order to increase awareness of these students about the city and its culture.
In addition to the above regular activities, Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi invites national and foreign intellectuals to give talk. Every Friday, it hosts a talk on the week's important political issue.
Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi also participates actively in academic organizations in Sakarya University and provides support for events related to political issues. For example, Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi was one of the organizing institutions of Middle East Congress on Politics and Society taking place in 2012.

Current staff

Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi is principally governed by a board of staff composing of a chair and three members. Although this board is responsible for daily bureaucratic decisions, important and long-run decisions are taken by a wider group of its members and volunteers.
Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi was established by Burhanettin Duran and his friends. In due course, intellectual figures of Sakarya took an active role in educational programs and seminars. Although Sakarya Bilgi Kültür Merkezi has no official membership record, it has voluntarily been supported by some notable persons from both Sakarya University and the city.