Our Programs
Sirkhane
The social circus is a playful, joyful and laughter-based form of art. It’s a pedagogical tool that promotes the participation and empowerment of children and young people who are in personal or social risk. Workshops on different skills such as juggling, acrobatics, aerials, clowning, theater, pyramids are very important to teach children new ways of thinking, creating and playing while expanding their social environment. Training social circus disciplines and entails the basic element of fun and joy. While learning circus disciplines children and young people also have opportunity to develop life skills such as group dynamics, adopting universal values, improving coordination and concentration, developing a healthy personality and healthy social communication skills.
Müzikhane
Müzikhane (House of Music in Turkish and Persian), is a social musical school based in Mardin Province, located in the south east of Turkey along the border with Syria. Initiated by San Francisco-Based composer, Sahba Aminikia as part of Flying Carpet Festival in 2018, the school continues to grow to become a cultural learning center for vulnerable children. Müzikhane aims to provide world-class cultural and artistic opportunities to vulnerable children in the same region, while also allowing the magic of their music to spread around the world to places where music and beauty are needed most. We connect artists from all around the world to our children, and they learn from those who have been through horrendous experiences and still keep the fire of hope burning in their hearts.
DARKROOM
darkroom is an empowering program directed by Syrian artist Serbest Salih, who is a refugee himself and finds love in teaching art of photography to children of deprived areas. The project equips children with inexpensive, pinhole andsimple analogue cameras, teaches them the basics of composition and visual arts and how to develop, print and achieve results out of their own art. The children are encouraged to take photos of their own surroundings, and capture the innocence and the beauty inside their own lives. Serbest also teaches them how to develop their photos, print them and makes exhibitions of their art; a full cycle of artistic experience.
Mobile Programs
GALAXI
We may not be able to travel through the whole galaxy, but we may well travel through all of Mardin inside “Galaxy”. Let us introduce Galaxy, our Mobile Circus Unit that has trail through rural areas of Mardin. Galaxy’s mission is to bring child protection services such as prevention of child marriages and child labor, prevention of domestic violence, access to educational opportunities, support for releasing trauma, teaching children’s rights through social circus shows and workshops, laughter, games, puppetry, magic and music is at our hands to make all that happen.
FlyIng LIbrary
Sirkhane flying library is a mobile educational, child friendly container that lands on places where children don’t have access to inspiring environments and educational resources. It flies from one location to another with children books, handicrafts, circus, films, educational and joyful activities. Flying library stays in the same location at least a year until it completes it’s mission. Then keeps flying to places where it’s needed most. By bringing together the two most fundamental rights of every child, education and play, flying library carries out psychosocial activities and cultural improvement at locations where children has been through geographical, political, social and economical struggle.
FlyIng CARPET
Flying Carpet is a volunteer-based collective of world-class musicians, artists, and visionaries who believe in the power of music as a catalyst for positive change in the lives of children. The Flying Carpet Festival is a festival and a learning platform for artists and children, alike, to create a harmonious experience through music, light, beauty, and truth. We organize festivals specializing in forward thinking design, music and art dedicated towards educating children who need it most. We select musicians, circus and visual artists, and visionaries from all over the world, with the common goal of creating the best possible artistic educational experience for the communities in need.