Museums in front of me, behind me, to my right and to my left!
The first step towards the European Association of Toy and Children’s Museums (TOYCO) is being taken in Türkiye!..
Representatives of toy and children’s museums from 14 countries, including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, will attend the meeting organised by the Istanbul Toy Museum. The meeting will also be attended by the directors of the European Museum Forum (EMF) and the European Museum Academy (EMA).
The main theme of the events, to be held under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has been set as the “Rag Doll”, to highlight the richness that our country’s textile culture brings to the world of children. As the symbol of the TOYCO gathering, whose main sponsor is the Turkish Textile Employers’ Association, Kübey Hatun, who in our culture protects women giving birth and children and gives them life, will be introduced. Rag doll toys of Kübey Hatun, to be made for this gathering by the artist Fatma Tuncer, will be given as gifts to the participating museums.
On 15 November, the museum representatives attending the gathering will take part in the events at the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality’s Children’s Art Centre and in the ongoing preparations for its Toy Museum, and will then visit the Toy Museum founded by the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. The big gathering will take place on 19–20 November at the Caddebostan Cultural Centre in Istanbul, the third city of the TOYCO meetings. At the two-day meeting led by Sunay Akın, museum representatives, including those of the Nuremberg Toy Museum, the Paris Doll Museum, the Rome Children’s Museum, the Stockholm Toy Museum, the Brussels Toy Museum and the Lisbon Toy Museum, will share the stories of how their museums were founded, their experiences and their activities. The meetings, which academics and teachers are already showing great interest in, will be open to the public.
At this historic gathering, whose main sponsor is the Turkish Textile Employers’ Association and which is supported by Faber-Castell, Tadım Gıda, Kia, Deniz Bank, İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, Kadıköy Municipality and İstanbul Bilgi University, there will also be an exhibition of toys brought by each country, each telling the story of its children’s and toy culture.
About the TOYCO gathering, Sunay Akın said: “As a tailor’s son, the first exhibits of the museum game I played in my childhood were things like the thimbles and cotton reels I took from my father’s shop and maps of various countries that I cut out of scraps of fabric. Years have passed since then, and the Toy Museum I founded is achieving a first by bringing together children’s and toy museums in Europe. When I told Mr Halit Narin about this dream of mine during his visit to our museum, he said, ‘We, the textile people, are with you,’ and they supported this big gathering. How strange it is that the countries whose maps I cut out of scraps of fabric as a child are being brought together by the textile people of Türkiye! I would like to thank all the valued companies that contributed, above all the Turkish Textile Employers’ Association. With the distinguished guests coming to our country, we will first go to Gaziantep. From this region, from which news of conflict reaches the world, this time the successful activities carried out at the Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality’s Children’s Centre and the preparations for its toy museum will be announced, and the Zeugma Museum will be visited. After visiting the Antalya Toy Museum, the guests will come to the Istanbul Toy Museum, and I am sure that the guest countries will appreciate the successes our country has achieved in such a short time in the field of children’s and toy museums. Everything is for protecting our children’s games and dreams. Because the road to a country’s future passes through the games of that country’s children.”
The full list of the museums taking part in the TOYCO gathering is given below.
TOYCO (European Association of Children’s and Toy Museums) Gathering
Venue: Caddebostan Cultural Centre
Date: 19 November – 20 November
Time: 10:00-18:00
Participants:
1) Museu Do Brinquedo - (Sintra Toy Museum) Portugal/Lisbon
2) Museo dei Bambini / (Rome Children’s Museum) Italy-Rome
3) Museu du Jouet / (Brussels Toy Museum) Belgium-Brussels
4) Leksak Museet (Stockholm Toy Museum)/Sweden-Stockholm
5) Nurnberg Toy Museum (Nuremberg Toy Museum)/Germany-Nuremberg
6) Salzburg Toy Museum (Salzburg Toy Museum)/Austria-Salzburg
7) Toy Museum in Colmar (Colmar Toy Museum)/France-Colmar
8) Figueres Toy Museum (Figueres Toy Museum)/Spain-Catalonia
9) Kudowa-Zabavek Museum (Kudowa Toy Museum)/Poland-Kudowa
10) Tartu Toy Museum (Tartu Toy Museum)/Estonia-Tartu
11) Musee de la poupe (Doll Museum)/ France-Paris
12) Deventer Toy Museum (Deventer Toy Museum)/Netherlands-Deventer
13) The Hellenic Children’s Museum (Greek Children’s Museum)/ Greece-Athens
14) Zoom Kindermuseum (Zoom Children’s Museum)/Austria-Vienna
15) Tropen Museum (Tropen Museum) /Netherlands- Amsterdam
16) Graz Children Museum (Graz Children’s Museum)/Austria-Graz
17) Museo Pambata (Pambata Museum)/Philippines-Manila
18) Museum of Recent History (Museum of Recent History) / Slovenia-Celje
19) Ann Nichols- European Museum Academy (EMA)
20) Françoıs-xavier Neve De Mevergnies - European Museum Academy (EMA)
21) Andreja Rihter- European Museum Academy (EMA)
22) Wim Wan Der Weiden- European Museum Academy (EMA)
23) Goronka Horjan- European Museum Forum (EMF)
24) Antalya Toy Museum (Antalya Toy Museum)/Türkiye-Antalya
25) Gaziantep Toy Museum (Gaziantep Toy Museum)/Türkiye-Gaziantep
26) İzmir Oyuncak Müzesi (İzmir Toy Museum)/Türkiye-İzmir
27) Free Kids Children’s and Toy Museum/Türkiye-Ankara
28) İstanbul University, Prof. Dr. Fethiye Erbay
29) İstanbul Bilgi University, Asst. Prof. Deniz Ünsal
30) UNICEF Türkiye Representative Ayman Abulaban