After completing my MA in City, Space and Society at the London School of Economics and Political Science, I was totally drawn into the world of cultural industries. My London based introduction to culture and arts-led-transformation in inner-city areas such as Soho and Hoxton, had equipped me with the senses to notice the similar traces in Istanbul. That resulted with the first Cultural Industry related thesis of Turkey: I built my case on the Pozitif: as the cultural intermediates which changed the Istanbul [independent] music scene.
Later my appetite on cultural industries and how it affects the cityscape and life, led me to write another dissertation of sociology in which I studied the spatial effects of the newly flourishing music and entertainment scene in Asmalimescit neighbourhood. My intuition does not let me settle with arts-led gentrification discourses where it is all down to artists who discover these derelict but aesthetically fulfilling spaces. I dived deep into the history of Asmalimescit and I traced back its past till the early 20th Century when the neighbourhood has welcomed many walks of life including, artists, entertainment and marginal fractions. So I still choose to believe such transformation occurs not through intervention but also through memory.
Throughout many years of observation and participatory action within arts and cultural sector via many hats I wore, I have always been keen to base my approach on a thorough understanding of both sides in the sector, i.e. arts and cultural institutions and their audiences, and their interactions with each other. So my research has always built on the practical knowledge that I gained through working as a facilitator and mentor for diverse actors and organisations within the public, commercial and voluntary sectors to improve their positioning in the arts and culture scene vis-à-vis their contribution to cultural democracy/ democratisation of culture.
My PhD, which I introduce throughly in these pages is a result of such commitment.