The Netherlands Institute for Heritage
The main institute in Holland which works on heritage is the Netherlands Institute for Heritage. In the past they have had quite a few collaborations with Turkey. They also have plans for collaboration for 2011 and 2012. They try to stimulate exchange and reflection between heritage organizations in the Netherlands and Turkey, and in order to create this a central platform for discussion and to project ideas will be created. The 400 years of shared history between heritage organizations in Turkey and the Netherlands will lie at the base of initiated projects. In order to do so the Netherlands Institute for Heritage will make an inventory of all the heritage activities and plans for 2011 and 2012, and make this widely accessible. This will support knowledge exchange and create an overview, which will make cooperation easier. They will also initiate debates, symposiums or lectures. Until the present there has been no particular cooperation with Turkish organizations. The activities that were linked to Turkey, focused mainly on Turkish migrant groups in the Netherlands, and focused on themes for instance diversity, cultural exchange, storytelling, and shared history.
There is a request from heritage institutes in Turkey, like Europa Nostra Istanbul and the Bilgi University, to create more knowledge exchange with heritage organizations in the Netherlands on NGO experience, cooperation between public and private organizations, participation of young people, and the use of new media and communication and current heritage developments. Next to Europa Nostra Istanbul and Bilgi University, Anadolu Kültür, Cekul and the NIT also show interest in collaboration.
In 2010 The Netherlands Institute for Heritage organized ‘Grand Café Mediterranée in Amsterdam. They organized a discussion wherein different perspectives on the handling of museum collections from the Middle East and Arabic region were provided. Emphasis was put on the collaboration for the exhibition between the Amsterdam Historical Museum and the Pera museum in Istanbul. (See below)
In 2010 there was a seminar ‘exchange for a Cosmopolitan Future’ in Amsterdam, organized by the City of Amsterdam, Urban Cosmopolitans, the Turkey Institute, the Netherlands Institute for Heritage, and SICA.