We, along with all our NGO colleagues, contributed to this wonderful festival organized under the leadership of Needs Map. Last year, when my dear friends Ali Ercan and Mert Fırat told me they wanted to organize Festtogether, I was delighted when they explained that they wanted to implement TİDER’s ‘waste prevention’ vision in a festival for the first time in Turkey, just as we did with the Bozcaada Marathon and Cunda Triathlon. I personally appreciate seeing our community initiatives being modeled on this and presented to a wider audience through different models.
Last year, we provided them with all the support we could, not only in implementing the waste prevention vision but also in all the areas they needed. In my next blog post, I will write about last year’s first Festtogether.
Following the Elazığ earthquake, Ali Ercan and Sarıca from Needs Map mentioned their weekly meeting since April at the NGO Disaster Coordination Platform, Festtogether at Home, which they planned to organize this year. They asked for our support. To remind you, I’m sharing the link to my blog post where I first announced the NGO Disaster Coordination Platform: https://www.serhansuzer.com/tr/elazigda-bizim-stklar-tarih-yaziyor
Coordination in All Disasters
I’ve known Ali Ercan for a long time. Thanks to Ali Ercan, I also met everyone working at Needs Map and Idema, and we get along very well with them all. My friendship with all the NGOs on the NGO Disaster Coordination Platform has strengthened since Elazığ. Now everyone knows each other very well, we know what we can do, and we’re all coordinating during these disasters after Elazığ and during the coronavirus pandemic. So, it was enough for our colleagues at Needs Map to announce it on the platform. Professionals from all the NGOs on the platform pledged their support for the Festtogether at Home event at our weekly meeting on 2 May.
We all did our best to contribute to this wonderful idea and organization. Our weekly meeting on 2 May went by very quickly. Two events that week caught my attention. In the first, TİDER General Manager Nil Tibukoğlu Yurdakul and I spoke at a panel entitled Innovative Solutions for the Pandemic with TİDER, moderated by Emircan Kürküt. Here are three frames from this event:
This is the video of the panel entitled Innovative Solutions with TİDER.
In the second, TİDER’s Chairman of the Board Hande Tibuk spoke at a panel entitled A Story of Solidarity in Civil Society Organizations, along with representatives from all our NGO colleagues: Sarıca from Needs Map, Sema from Support to Life, Mert from Octopus Volunteers, Murat from TOG, Tarık from AHBAP, Burcu from AÇEV, Erden from the Nef Foundation, and Ahmet from Çorbada Tuzun Olsun.
As TİDER, we received a wonderful thank you message from our sister organization, Needs Map, after the event for our contributions to Festtogether:
In addition to these two panels, we hosted other valuable panels and talks at this festival held on 9 May 2020. Here’s the morning program:
In the afternoon, a musical feast began after 4:20 PM, with valuable talks. I’d also like to share the afternoon program:
You could access this festival, which is broadcast on YouTube, through Festtogether’s official website. For more information, I recommend visiting this website: http://festttogether.com/
Turkey’s first support-based digital festival
Festtogether Evde, brought to life through YouTube Turkey and netD Music YouTube channels, became Turkey’s first digital festival, where the needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and listed on the Needs Map will be met through the support of the audience. The festival, which is set to showcase the transformative impact of digital with its focus on social good and the unifying power of music, will include: The event featured presentations by host artists, music broadcasts prepared specifically for Festtogether by guest artists, and panels and events featuring experts on climate, environment, sports, and individual sustainability. Festtogether Evde was organized for viewing throughout the day, from 10:00 am to midnight, on YouTube Turkey and netD Music’s YouTube channels.
These are some memories from the festival:
Sertap Erener
Sertap Erener
Left Image: Mert Fırat Actor – UNDP Goodwill Ambassador. Middle Image: Gökhan Özoğuz – Athena. Right Image: Hakan Özoğuz – Athena. For more information about the festival, please see the newsletter published by İdema News: http://www.idemahaber.com/turkiyenin-iyilik-odakli-ilk-muzik-festivali-festtogether-bu-yil-dijital-olarak-duzenlendi/
344,090 people provided in-home support
In my opinion, the most important step in this year’s home-based festival, Festtogether, is to use festival proceeds through Needs Map to meet the needs of those in need. Here’s a visual showing how to support:
For more details, please visit http://festttogether.com/#destekol .
Festtogether has provided support to healthcare workers and hospitals, students in need of computers during distance learning, performing arts workers, technical workers in the music industry, and many other needs.
To date, Festtogether has met the needs of a total of 344,090 people. Kudos to everyone involved!
See you at the next Festtogether…
Tag: education
