Organised by Mordem Sanat, SoloFest4: Rengini Kap Gel (Grab Your Colour and Come) is an international arts festival focusing on solo storytelling forms, held with the aim of keeping cultural heritage alive and reinterpreting it. The festival was supported under Kültür İçin Alan (Space for Culture)’s 2023 project grant supporting cultural solidarity with the earthquake region. This support covers activities aimed at fostering healing, social solidarity and participation through arts and culture, particularly in post-disaster areas.
While making visible traditional storytelling forms that hold an important place in Kurdish culture, such as Dengbêj, Qawılbej and Çirokbej, SoloFest also aimed to bring these forms together with contemporary narratives. At the festival, which placed gender equality and inclusivity at its centre under the theme “Grab Your Colour and Come”, women artists were in the majority, and two LGBT+ themed plays were also included in the programme.
The festival took place in Diyarbakır from 27 October to 5 November 2023. With the participation of 43 artists from Iran, the Netherlands and all over Türkiye, a total of 14 events were held, comprising contemporary dance, ritual performance, monodrama and traditional storytelling genres. The festival reached 1,213 audience members. 36 children took part in the children’s workshops, and the children’s plays reached 217 people.
The festival’s proceeds were used to support access to the arts for children in the earthquake region. In Diyarbakır, three separate art workshops were held with children who had settled in the village of Peyas after the earthquake; in addition, three play performances were staged on the Mordem Sanat stage for these children and for children with special needs.