Görgün Taner

Mr. Görgün Taner (b. 1959) is the General Director of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1973 that organises four international festivals (Film, Theatre, Classical Music and Jazz), the Istanbul Biennial, and the İstanbul Design Biennial. A graduate of Boğaziçi University’s Department of History, Taner has been working at the Foundation since 1983 and has served as Assistant Director and Program Coordinator for Foreign Relations (1987- 1994) and Director of the International Istanbul Jazz Festival (1994-2002) before being appointed as General Director in 2002.He was the Chair of the European Cultural Foundation (based in Amsterdam) for 5 years between 2013-2018. He is also currently a board member of the Istanbul Modern Museum, and a member of the international advisory board of HEC Montréal business school’s International Arts Management Master of Management programme. Since 2014, he also serves as a member of the Advisory Committee of German-Turkish Youth Bridge. He is a member of Advisory Board, Allianz Turkey since 2015.Previously, he served as the President of the European Jazz Festivals Association between 1998 and 2002, and as a member of the Advisory Board of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency. He was the commissioner of Turkey during the Cultural Season of Turkey in France, between July 2009 and March 2010. Between September 2010 and May 2011, he was the Art Consultant of the Amsterdam Municipality.He was awarded by the French government with the legion of honour (Chevalier dans l’ordre national de la Legion d’Honneur) in 2011, and with membership to the French Ministry of Culture’s Order of Arts and Letters in 2014. He also received the Officer’s Cross of Merit, Superior Service to the Republic of Poland in 2014.