Bergama Tiyatro Festivali 7th Edition

The 7th edition of Bergama Tiyatro Festivali (BTF) took place from 7 to 9 August in Bergama, Turkey, bringing together nearly 40 events across three days for audiences of all ages. Theatre productions and performances filled venues in and around the city. BTF is a festival rooted in its place. Bergama, with its layered history and its ancient theatre tradition, is not just a backdrop for us but a partner in everything we program. Since our first edition, we have worked to build a bridge between contemporary performing arts and the local community, and to show that a culturally vital festival can grow outside of Istanbul. The 7th edition continued this approach with a dense three-day program that placed the city’s people, spaces and stories at the center. A key part of this edition was our work with young audiences. Two children’s plays, “Baretler Kafaya Çocuklar Sahaya” and “Bir Yaz Gecesi Rüyası Orman Karıştı”, were staged within the festival, giving children in Bergama and surrounding areas the chance to experience theatre as a shared, joyful and imaginative space. Reaching new generations is essential to building a lasting audience and a lasting relationship between the festival and the city. Alongside the program, the 7th edition strengthened our ties with local institutions, sponsors and the municipality, as well as with artists and cultural workers from across Turkey. These partnerships allow us to sustain a festival of this scale and to keep it open, accessible and connected to the community it serves. This edition also marked an important moment in how we think about the future of BTF. We have been working toward a simple goal: not to limit the festival to three days. We want BTF to become a year-round platform in Bergama that keeps its connection with the city alive, hosts theatre and performances throughout the year, and opens up spaces for discussion about culture and the arts. Fitting nearly 40 events into just three days showed us both the energy that exists around the festival and how much more the city can hold. The 7th edition laid important groundwork for this, from the audience relationships we built to the new communication approaches we began testing, including a regular year-round communication plan that starts after the festival ends. Looking back, the 7th edition showed us what BTF can be: a festival that is proud of its roots, curious about the wider world, and committed to making the performing arts a living part of everyday life in Bergama. We see this edition both as a celebration of what we have achieved so far and as a stepping stone toward a stronger, more connected and more sustainable festival.