What's on: Istanbul Pride, festival season in full swing and more

A biweekly roundup of art exhibitions, cultural events, and arts and culture news in Istanbul and elsewhere in Turkey.

Jun 26, 2025

İstanbul Pride on İstiklal Caddesi in June 2013.

Pride Persists 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍🌈

It’s been a long time since Pride Week (LGBTİ+ Onur Haftası) in Istanbul could be marked freely and openly, as I wrote last year, and this year is shaping up to be no different. At least 46 people were detained during last Sunday’s attempt to hold a trans pride march and their right to peaceful assembly blocked, according to a statement by Amnesty International. Meanwhile the account of the local LGBTQ+ news portal Kaos GL on X/Twitter was blocked in Turkey (though they quickly opened a new one). But activists persist in organizing Pride events (with some additional safety measures like only announcing the locations to those who register) and are raising funds to cover event costs (including the inevitable legal fees). Expect heavy police presence and barricades around Taksim/İstiklal/Cihangir and possibly other central locations on Sunday, 29 June, when the main Pride march would traditionally be held.

READ: Istanbul-based photojournalist Bradley Secker’s recent newsletter on the intersection between LGBTI+ rights and migration.
READ: ICYMI, my reporting for Hyperallergic in November about how queer artists and cultural producers in Turkey are walking a thin line between creative resistance and self-censorship.
SCROLL: Look back through A Queer Memory of Istanbul on Istanbul Elsewhere’s Instagram account.
WATCH: Director Can Candan’s lovely Benim Çocuğum (My Child), a now classic 2013 documentary about the families of LGBTİ+ children in Turkey; available for free on YouTube in its original version or on GuideDoc streaming service (paid) with English subtitles.
LISTEN: To a playlist of Turkish gay anthems on Spotify.
LISTEN: To a BBC report from November on Turkey’s recent anti-LGBT drive in the context of a wider global right-wing backlash.

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A Jazz in the Parks concert during the 2024 Istanbul Jazz Festival.

Festival Season in Full Swing 🎶

Summer means outdoor concerts and music festivals and this year’s Istanbul Jazz Festival kicks off next week with an opening-night performance by the Afro-Cuban jazz piano master Chucho Valdés and his royal quartet at the Cemil Topuzlu Open Air Theater in Harbiye on 1 July. Other highlights include the Latin guitar duo Hermanos Gutiérrez (2 July), postminimalist composer and pianist Max Richter (3 July), singer-songwriter and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello (8 July), and pianist Kerem Görsev and his quintet (11 July).

Tickets can be pricey, especially for the international acts, but fortunately there’s the Jazz in the Parks series bringing free music to the people with concerts this year in Kalamış (13 July), Beylikdüzü (12 July), and Ataşehir (6 July). The popular Night Out event expands the definition of jazz with a music crawl of genre-blending performances at indoor venues in Kadıköy on 16 and 17 July. And on 13 July, the Jazz Boat departs from Kabataş pier for a day of Bosphorus grooves.

Also coming up:

Gezgin Salon Festival (28-29 June) – French dream-pop duo Air (on Saturday) and English rock band Slowdive (on Sunday) headline a two-day outdoor music festival at Parkorman in Maslak this weekend ⏰
Sound of Europe Festival (4-6 July) – This free concert series brings together musicians from Europe and Turkey for performances in Istanbul and Ankara on 5 and 6 July, and in İzmir on 4 July.
FYI Büyükada Festival (4-6 July) – A weekend of sea, sand, sun, concerts, workshops, and dance on the largest of Istanbul’s Princes’ Islands, featuring performances by Turkish bands in a variety of genres.

Cultural News in Brief 🗞

Tickets are now on sale for the Akbank Jazz Festival in Istanbul in late September/early October.
The Terra Santa Monastery complex in Beyoğlu, which the local municipality had leased in 2022 for 10 years for use as a cultural venue, has been closed after the General Directorate of Foundations terminated the agreement in May.
A scheduled performance by the Swiss orchestra Geneva Camerata as part of the Istanbul Music Festival was cancelled by the Beşiktaş District Governorship, reportedly after an advisor to Turkey’s president posted online demanding it be called off because the composer of the work to be performed was a former member of the Israeli army orchestra.

A photograph by Ateş Alpar, from the *What Seeps in from Outside* series, 2022.

Short Takes: Gallery Shows to See this Month 📷 🖼

Drawing from personal and family experience, Kurdish artist Ateş Alpar grapples with cultural assimilation, historical erasure, and methods of state control in the solo show Possibility and Probability (to 5 July at Depo, Lüleci Hendek Caddesi No:12, Tophane; open Tue-Sat 11am-7 pm). Keep an eye out for my piece on the exhibition and Alpar’s previous work, due to be published this weekend by The Markaz Review. Graffiti/mural artist Canavar, whose iconic cockroaches you might recognize from the walls of Kadıköy, exhibits ink and spray-paint drawings on paper in A Flower in the Middle of the Fire (to 5 July at YÜZONBİR, İMÇ 5. Blok, No. 5556, Atatürk Bulvarı, Fatih; open Wed-Sat noon-7pm). A video montage of cinematic characters critiquing “the system” and AI-generated R&B songs about wastewater treatment are among the highlights in Check Valve, Kerem Ozan Bayraktar’s artistic investigation of mechanical processes (to 12 July at Sanatorium’s new space, Abdussalah Sokak No:3, Karaköy; open Tue-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun noon-5pm). Colombian artist Larry Muñoz’s Graceful Elegant Beasts finds the transcendent in the everyday with delicate sculptures reminiscent of the Arte Povera movement (to 26 July at Zilberman, İstiklal Caddesi, Mısır Apartmanı No:163, 3rd floor, Beyoğlu; open Tue-Sat 11am-7pm).

Istanbul etc.