In the previous year, 300 disabled young men and women who partied at popular venues in Istanbul, performed with famous musicians, and experienced personal growth in various areas from photography to dance and learned the secret of success in life with Vodafone and thanks to Dreams Academy saw that they can overcome any barrier.

Seeing that the doors of social life from swimming pools to discos and sports fields are wide open to the disabled in Germany; the President of the Alternative Life Association (AYDER), Ercan Tutal, led the way in including the disabled in Turkey, whom we often assume are invisible and exclude with our prejudices to all areas of socially life. We interviewed Ercan Tutal on the types of dreams the academy plans to make come true in the future.

Happy anniversary to the Dreams Academy! What is the general situation for disabled youth in Turkey? What kind of challenges do they face? What kind of efforts are in place to overcome these challenges?

Disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals cannot get enough education and therefore have more difficulty entering the workforce. Environmental and architectural miscalculations also make it more difficult for these individuals to leave their home and participate in social life.

The Dreams Academy is giving culture and arts education to disabled and socially disadvantaged youth to overcome these two fundamental problems. All of these trainings are directed towards the inclusion of young people in the workforce. In this respect, the Social Inclusion Band performs concerts with socially sensitive musicians. We also have a theatre community formed with the same goals. Rehearsals are continuing to produce plays that are completely suitable for disabled people. Moreover, at the end of each term, parties which receive high interest from workshop attendees take place at the most important entertainment venues in Istanbul.

How did the academy, which made the dreams of more than 300 disabled young people come true in only a year, evolve and what are its primary goals?

The Dreams Academy project is a project developed with the Alternative Life Association which has over 10 years of experience with disabled and socially disadvantaged youth. Along with continuing projects that focus on sports like ‘Diving is Freedom’ and the Alternative Camp, we also wanted to turn towards projects about art which should be a part of everyone’s life. As a result, the Dreams Academy was born to provide disabled and socially disadvantaged youth with free arts education which allows them to then participate in the workforce in this area, in short transforming each participant into an “artist.”

The primary goal of Dreams Academy is to use art to end social exclusion and allow disabled individuals to be active and productive. Moreover, we can list the participation in the solution for unemployment by making it easier for the disabled individuals with developed skills and talent to find jobs, provide project beneficiaries with equal term relationships with the skills they gained and the experiences they can use in social areas and hence develop the self esteem of the individuals.

In the first year of Dreams Academy held many activities to support the social inclusion of socially disadvantaged youth such as personal development, life coaching and Social Inclusion Band concerts. With that, Handicapped Week was celebrated like never before in May with Dreams Academy instructors and participants and Ortaköy Square. What kinds of changes were observed in the lives of disabled youth with these projects? Can you share with us your success stories?

Dreams Academy has accomplished many success stories in a year. For example, every student in Social Inclusion Band is a success story on their own…

A couple of students that have never received any training or education on rhythm joined the Dreams Academy rhythm workshop. We soon realized their talents for rhythm and hence started the Social Inclusion Band (SIB). SIB gave its first concert at Akbank Jazz Festival. At the concert, SIB was joined by names such as Baki Duyarlar, Gücüm Sezer as well as Alfred Menhert from Germany. The second concert took place in the context of the agreement made with Pozitif Ol Group at the hotspot Babylon in İstanbul, where the SIB took the stage with the up and coming reggae group Sattas. SIB concerts will continue every month with the participation of different musicians.

Similar success stories also come from students attending painting workshops. Two students from our painting workshop opened their own studios and took on the identity of a true “artist”. Aside from exhibiting their paintings at their workshops, the students also sell their paintings, participating in the workforce. So far, student exhibitions have been held in institutions such as Doğuş, Otomotion and Vodafone. We continue to receive similar exhibition proposals.

If we were to draw a general overview of socially disadvantaged or disabled youth in Turkey, what kind of difficulties are faced in the process of their integration into society? What kind of a role does the Dreams Academy have in overcoming these barriers?

Unfortunately disabled and socially disadvantaged youth in Turkey do not want to leave their homes. Along with the incompatibility of architecture and city plans or their inability to join the workforce due to lack of education, many of them have self esteem issues due to social impositions.

The Dreams Academy is facilitating numerous activities to change this negative situation. For example, the end-of-term performance parties aim to include individuals in a social life, but also to make venues more accessible.

Before every Dreams Academy activity, the venues are explored beforehand to make the necessary physical changes so that they are permanent. Consequently, disabled individuals do not have second thoughts about revisiting a venue where a Dreams Academy activity took place. This enables them to become a part of social life and be integrated in society.

To develop the self esteem of disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals Dreams Academy started “personal development” workshops in addition to the continuing workshops. This workshop has now been continuing for 3 cycles. At the end of each term, participants set a goal for themselves decide on ways of achieving that goal. At the end of the project they present a project carried out with group work.

How do plan on continuing the success of the first year in the years to come? What kind of plans does the Dreams Academy have for 2010?

In its second year, the Dreams Academy is opening a workshop on the Anatolian side of Istanbul to reach more disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals. Proposals from different provinces for workshops are being reviewed.

Within the Dreams Academy a sign language workshop aiming to create “awareness” comes to the fore this year. Along with disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals this workshop is also open to volunteers, special development enthusiasts and anyone else who may be interested… Applications to the workshop are also very high, such that in January a second sign language workshop opened.

The workshops organized before each SIB concert, also attempt to create awareness. At the workshop in Babylon on January 4 2010 a short introduction of sign language was given and frequently used patterns were shown…

In short, our goal for this year is to reach more disabled and socially disadvantaged individuals, to be able to share these young people’s success with more people and of course to raise awareness of the disability situation.

It could be said that Dreams Academy is an example of bringing together the private sector and NGOs. What advice could you give for other projects in this developing field in Turkey?

It is very important that the projects directed towards disabled and socially disadvantaged youth is sustainable. This is a concept that needs to be regarded both in relation to the project and to individuals. We have ensured the self sustainability of Social Inclusion Band and will observe the same in our other developing projects such as Dreams Academy sub-project Performing Ensemble. At an individual level Dreams Academy has many achievements such as the education it provides. With the education they received at the workshop, we noted that there were students that opened their own galleries, filmed short movies and wrote scenarios. During the project process it is also very important to create awareness in individuals and institutions contacted.

For more information about Dreams Academy, please click here.
To view UNDP's project webpage, please click here.