The Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) has announced that Yeşim Gürer Oymak will assume the role of General Director as of 1 July 2026. Oymak, who served as Director of the Istanbul Music Festival between 2006 and 2018 and has been part of İKSV’s senior management as Deputy General Director since September 2017, commented on the appointment:
“It is a great honour and source of happiness for me to take on this important role at İKSV, of which I have been a proud part for twenty years. I am deeply excited to work together with my colleagues to carry the foundation’s long-standing cultural and artistic legacy into the future.”
With Oymak taking over the position, Görgün Taner, who has served as General Director since 2002 and has been a member of the İKSV Board of Trustees since 2021, will begin his new role as Chair of the İKSV Executive Committee. The Executive Committee—comprising Teoman Akünal, Zeynep Hamedi, and Görgün Taner—will continue its work under the Board of Trustees chaired by Bülent Eczacıbaşı.
Görgün Taner, who has been part of the İKSV team since 1983 and served as Director of the Istanbul Jazz Festival between 1994 and 2002, shared the following remarks on the new phase in the foundation’s leadership:
“I feel great happiness and pride in the appointment of my esteemed colleague Yeşim Gürer Oymak as General Director of İKSV, with whom I have worked closely for many years. It is a source of great satisfaction for all of us that a diligent and visionary cultural leader—one who has grown within the institution and possesses extensive experience across different artistic disciplines—will be leading İKSV on its next journey.”
Yeşim Gürer Oymak
After graduating from Saint Benoît French High School, Yeşim Gürer Oymak completed her undergraduate studies in English Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University and in Piano at Istanbul University State Conservatory. She went on to earn her master’s and doctoral degrees in musicology at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory and the Istanbul University State Conservatory.
Between 1996 and 2016, Gürer Oymak served as a faculty member at the Istanbul University State Conservatory. During this period, she also held the positions of Head of the Musicology Department and board member of the Ottoman Music Research and Application Center (OMAR).
As the Founding Director of İş Sanat Cultural Center, Yeşim Gürer Oymak curated the institution’s year-round artistic programme until 2006. From 2006 to 2018, she served as director of the Istanbul Music Festival. In 2009–2010, she coordinated classical music events organized within the framework of the “Turkey Season in France,” realized by the Turkish and French Ministries of Foreign Affairs.
In recognition of her contributions, she was awarded the Bene Merito medal by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2014, and in 2019 received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Chevalier) from the French Ministry of Culture for her role in strengthening cultural and artistic cooperation between France and Turkey.
Since 2017, Yeşim Gürer Oymak has served as Deputy General Director of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), while concurrently continuing her role as Co-Director of the Leyla Gencer Singing Competition.
