Görgün Taner new Chair for European Cultural Foundation

Help us congratulate ISPA member Görgün Taner, General Director of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), on his new appointment as the Board Chair of the European Cultural Foundation!  A full press release from the European Cultural Foundation is below, or you can view the original announcement on the European Cultural Foundation website.

The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) is delighted to announce the appointment of a new Chair of its Board on 23 May 2013 – Mr. Görgün Taner. He replaces Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, who has served as ECF’s Chair since 2007 and is now leaving the board to serve as Joseph A. Schumpeter Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University.

Görgün Taner (Turkey, 1959) is the General Director of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV). He joined the ECF Advisory Council in 2006 and became a Board Member in 2007.

A graduate of Bogazici University’s Department of History, Mr. Taner is currently a Faculty Member of the Cultural Management Programme of Istanbul Bilgi University. He is also a Board Member of the Istanbul Modern Arts Museum. Previously, he served as President of the European Jazz Festivals Association and sat on the Advisory Board of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency. He was the commissioner for Turkey during the Cultural Season of Turkey in France, and was awarded the prestigious Legion of Honour (Chevalier dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur) by the French government in January 2011. In September 2010, he was appointed as the Art Consultant of the Amsterdam Municipality. He has also served as a member of the international advisory committee of the Master of Management in International Arts Management in Montreal since November 2012.

His predecessor Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch (Austria, 1947) was the EU’s Special Envoy for Kosovo (1998-1999), EU chief negotiator at the Kosovo peace talks in Rambouillet and Paris (1999), and then High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (1999-2002). Since March 2008, he has served as Austrian Ambassador to the OECD in Paris. He has been ECF’s Chair since 2007. 

ECF is immensely grateful for his outstanding commitment and excellent contribution to our work. His passion and knowledge have been invaluable for the development of our foundation.

Mr Taner was officially appointed as ECF’s Chair in a Board meeting held on 23 May 2013 in Amsterdam. Three new members also joined the ECF Board in 2013: Nike Jonah (UK); Christophe de Voogd (France); and Maria Hlavajova (Slovakia).