TCF provided a major grant to the Turkish American Cultural Society of New England and the Turkish American Cultural Association of Washington to support the Turkish festivals in Boston and Seattle. The 18th Boston Turkish Arts and Culture Festival will take place under the theme “Colorsz of Anatolia” and include art exhibits, workshops, performances, culinary events and a short film competition. The festival begins on Turkish Republic Day on October 29th and runs through December 15. The events take place at leading Boston institutions, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard University and the Boston Public Library.  The 13th Turkish Cultural Festival in Seattle-Turkfest will take place on October 19-20 at the Seattle Center under the theme “Mosaic of Histories,” featuring cultural performances, children activities, cooking demonstrations and seminars.

The TCF Culinary Arts Center - YESAM kicks off its 2013-2014 lecture program with a lecture on “Turkish Coffee: More than just a cup of frothy hot liquid,” by Nihal Bursa on September 26. The lecture will be presented in English.  Past YESAM lectures are periodically uploaded and are available for viewing on the TCF Video Portal.

Dr. Nurhan Atasoy, TCF Senior Scholar in Residence, gave a lecture on September 17 on “Impressions of Ottoman Culture in Europe,” in Brussels, Belgium organized at the European Parliament.  Dr.Recep Karadag, head of the TCF Cultural Heritage Preservation and Natural Dyes Laboratory-DATU presented a paper on “Non-destructive micro-analytical methods for the Conservation of Historical Textiles” at the 5th Vienna Intensive School on Conservation Science on September 17-26. He will also participate in the conference on Dyes in History and Archaeology in La Rochelle, France on October 3-4, presenting findings of the pigment analysis done by DATU on textiles from the Koru tumulus excavation.

For several years, TCF has provided internships to American students under the Santa Clara University Global Fellowship program. This summer's interns Anaisy Tolentino, Carlton Gossett, John Lund and Rachael Axelrod spent several weeks at the TCF Istanbul office over the summer, returning home this week. Additional support for the TCF-Santa Clara nternship has been provided by Bahcesehir University, which has been hosting the students at the university's dorms.