Görgün Taner

Görgün Taner is the General Director of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), a non-profit organisation founded in 1973 that organises four international festivals (Film, Theatre, Classical Music, and Jazz) and the Istanbul Biennial, and conducts research and advocacy through its Cultural Policy Studies Department. A Boğaziçi University History graduate.

Taner has worked at İKSV since 1983, serving as Assistant Director and Program Coordinator for Foreign Relations (1987–1994) and Director of the International Istanbul Jazz Festival (1994–2002) before becoming General Director in 2002.

He is also a board member of the Istanbul Modern Museum. He chaired the European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam) from 2013 to 2018 and was a member of the International Advisory Board of HEC Montréal’s International Arts Management programme (2012–2019).

Since 2014, he has served on the Advisory Committee of the German-Turkish Youth Bridge, and was on Allianz Turkey’s Advisory Board (2015–2021). Previously, he was President of the European Jazz Festivals Association (1998–2002), an Advisory Board member of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, and Commissioner of Turkey for the Cultural Season of Turkey in France (2009–2010).

He also worked as Art Consultant to Amsterdam Municipality (2010–2011). Taner’s honours include the French Legion of Honour (2011), the Order of Arts and Letters (2014), the Officer’s Cross of Merit from Poland (2014), and the title of Knight of the Orange-Nassau (Netherlands, 2022).