Nefes for Arts and Culture
Through breath, man realized his soul and while trying to understand his breath, he blew into the cane, and music was born. Then, when he tried to carve the breath, words and wisdom came to be. Once on a dull winter’s day, he breathed upon a cold window, a white misty shade appeared, and cinema has existed ever since. Nefes embodies the need for expressions of the human soul. Every creation begins with a breath (Nefes). Because the journey of the first breath (Nefes) is interlaced with many other breaths, Nefes attempts not to be merely repeated breaths, but to allow each breath to find its expression.
Nefes was founded by young Syrian and Turkish people, specialized in music and the arts. Nefes believes that education, work, artistic and cultural expression is the pure air that children and young people need to breathe. Nefes seeks to present itself as a cross-cultural group that transcends traditional artistic styles yet respects the strength and depth of a rich cultural heritage. It draws its knowledge from the cultural and academic backgrounds of its team to raise awareness of different forms of traditional artistic and cultural expressions not only preserving the cultural heritage, but also seeking to present it in new forms, and sharing it with others.
Nefes works with three principles:
- Application: the creation of spaces suitable for the establishment of cultural activities and events
- Empowerment: building the capacity of individuals and community groups to express themselves, to provide their cultural and artistic skills, and to support cultural research.
- Creativity: continuously working to increase the interaction among different cultures by devising ways of providing cultural and artistic product and promoting cultural dialogue through building local and international networks of artists and cultural organizations.
We know that the breath (Nefes) accompanies a human throughout their life. So why not use
breath creatively and contribute to expressions of beauty and love?
Nefes believes in a vision of a world free from war and hatred, of communities capable of
creating an environment conducive to expressing creativity and making spaces for artistic and
cultural work.
- Reach out to children groups and young people and enabling them to discover ways to be creative.
- Encourage children and young people to be open to other cultures and differences and to be able to express their own culture in the communities they live in.
- Create spaces of cultural dialogue and experience among the world’s various cultures.
- Contribute, with partner cultural organizations, to the cultural reconstruction of communities affected by war and conflict.
- Conduct professional research and performance activities to preserve endangered and forgotten cultural heritage.
Chairman of the Board: Ibrahim Muslimani
