July 25, 2010 Guler Koknar, Executive Director Turkish Cultural Foundation 1025 Connecticut Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036 Dear Guler: We are pleased to enclose ATA-DC’s application for a grant to support the 2010 Turkish Festival and Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week in Washington, DC. We would like to thank the Foundation for its generous support in the growing success of both activities over the years. As Turkish Americans we feel proud to see that the Turkish Festival has become a much looked-for tradition for all Washingtonians. Last year’s Festival was once again a great success, allowing us to reach over 15,000 visitors in a matter of eight hours to present the best that Turkey has to offer. From the lively folk dancing and musical performances to the coffee fortune reading, delicious Turkish cuisine, and colorful arts and crafts vendors, visitors of all ages enjoyed themselves. Our event takes in the heart of Washington DC only two blocks away from the White House, which gives us a great advantage. Last year, as you know we also piloted the First Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week with the TCF’s support and it became just another popular event that promotes Turkish cuisine in the Nation’s Capital. Encouraged by last year’s success, this year we plan to organize the Second Turkish Cuisine and Restraurant Week in DC. This year we plan to expand the Festival site to two blocks since we get more food and bazaar vendors and more visitors every year. We also plan to further increase our marketing efforts and advertise at metro buses routing through most affluent neighborhoods of DC in addition to Metro Stations and newspapers. Moreover, due to the growth of the festival and the audience, we plan to rent a bigger and more professional stage that can be seen from a distance and better meets the festival’s needs. Washington, DC Turkish Festival is unique in that it is a true grassroots event which is organized, delivered, and financed by the Turkish American community and businesses in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Last year, the festival expenses were about $80,000, more than 95% of which was raised locally here in Washington, DC through donations, sponsorships, fundraising activities, and vendor fees in addition to the TCF grant. Turkish Festival is a big undertaking for the Turkish American Community and our success strengthens our community by bringing us together and increasing our confidence in ourselves and our ability to make an impact. This confidence reflects in other parts of the US as well. ATA-DC has started sharing its expertise in organizing festivals and events that promote Turkey with other communities across the country. Please see attached a recent letter we received from the Norfolk NATO Festival asking for our guidance in organizing a Turkish Festival as part of NATO’s International Activities. We look forward to your positive response. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 202-491-5869 (mb) or email: president@atadc.org. Sincerely,

Demet Cabbar President ATA-DC

Enc:

Grant Application for the Festival and the Cuisine and Restaurant Week

Letter from Norfolk NATO Festival

American-Turkish Association of Washington D.C.

1526 18th St. NW Washington DC 20036

www.atadc.org 1-888-282-3236

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Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Turkish Festival

2.1. Description

2.2. Objectives

2.3. Proposed 2010 Festival Highlights

2.4. Initiative Completed

2.5. Public relations/Media Plan

2.6. Sponsors

2.7. Festival Committee Members

3. Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week

3.1. Overview / Evaluation

3.2. Objectives

3.3. How does it work? How do we ensure quality?

4. Budget

1

I. Introduction

American Turkish Association of Washington, DC (ATA-DC) thanks Turkish Cultural

Foundation (TCF) for its generous sponsorship and support of the 1st Turkish Cuisine and

Restaurant Week and the 7th

Annual Turkish Festival in DC that took place on September

18-26 and October 4, 2009 respectively. Both events were very successful: The Turkish

Festival has now become a premier event in DC that attracts more than 15,000 visitors –

of which more than 70% Americans - in just eight hours in the Nation’s Capital. The

Turkish Festival has become one of DC’s biggest ethnic festivals and it promotes Turkey

and Turkish Culture in a most positive way in the World’s political capital. Washington,

DC Turkish Festival also provides leadership and guidance to other organizations around

the US that would like to organize similar events with similar impact. Recently, we were

contacted by the Nato International Festivals Director in Norfolk who asked for our

guidance in organizing a series of festivals and events in 2011 to promote Turkey in that

region. (Please see the email attached).

2

In addition, the Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week that we piloted last year added one

more dimension in Turkey’s promotion in DC by highlighting the richness of Turkish

Cuisine and drawing thousands of people to Turkish restaurants to try Turkish Food.

Last year, the TCF grant allowed us to increase our marketing efforts dramatically and

reach out to a larger and more diverse audience than ever before.

This year we are organizing the 8th

Annual Turkish Festival and the 2nd

Turkish Cuisine

and Restaurant Week once again in the Nation’s Capital. Within a course of three weeks

starting mid-September Washingtonians will have an opportunity to learn about Turkish

Cuisine by attending lectures, to try Turkish food at DC’s best restaurants, and to explore

Turkish Culture at the Turkish Festival by watching lively Turkish folk dance and music

performances, enjoying Turkish coffee and getting their fortunes read, meeting Turkish

Kangal dogs, shopping at the Turkish Bazaar, and much more…

The 8th

Annual Turkish Festival is scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 3, 2010

and the 2nd

Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week will take place September 17-26, 2010.

This application describes both of the projects, outlines the stages of development and

suggests continuation of TCF’s support for the most prominent Turkish Culture events

organized by a Turkish-American organization in the heart of Washington, DC in 2010 as

well.

II. Turkish Festival in Washington, DC

2.1 Description

The Washington, DC Turkish Festival offers a day of activities from the lively folk dancing

and musical performances to the arts and crafts activities for children and adults, the coffee

fortune reading, delicious Turkish cuisine, and a colorful Turkish Bazaar. Attracting more

than 15,000 visitors in one single day every year, the Washington, DC Turkish Festival has

become one of DC’s greatest ethnic festivals.

The mission of the Washington, DC Turkish Festival is to promote Turkey and Turkey’s

rich and diverse culture in the Nation’s capital and to build a bridge of friendship between

the Turkish and American people through cultural education and understanding.

This year’s festival will adopt the theme, “Explore the Wonders of Turkey in DC,” and will

take visitors on a journey through two continents and thousands of years of rich and diverse

history. The 2010 Festival will be held on Sunday, October 3, 2010 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

on Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 12th

and 14th

Streets NW.

One of the things that make Washington, DC Turkish Festival unique is that it is a true

grassroots event organized by volunteers and financed by donations from the Turkish

community, business sponsors, vendor registration fees, fundraisers, and festival day sales

in addition to the TCF grant.

3

2.2 Objectives The primary objective of the Washington DC Turkish Festival is to promote Turkey and

Turkish culture in the World’s political capital. We have observed that after attending the

Festival visitors do want to travel to Turkey or, to the least, learn something positive about

Turkish culture and Turkey. We believe that the festival serves a very important purpose

in projecting a positive image of Turkey and of Turkish people to undo the damage that

anti-Turkish lobbies have caused over the decades. We would like to make sure those

who attend the festival leave with knowledge, positive feeling, and a sense of interest and

affection for Turkey and its people.

Secondly, the festival aims to strengthen the Turkish-American community ties and

solidarity by bringing them together and making them feel proud of their heritage and

capabilities.

Finally, we support the Turkish-American artists and artisans. Over the past years, our

festival provided a platform for many Turkish and American artists (painters, miniaturists,

calligraphers, musicians, designers, and traditional folk dancers) to showcase their art, to

network with their peers, and to reach out to a larger audience in the heart of the nation’s

capital.

2.3. Proposed 2010 Festival Highlights

This year’s festival will adopt the theme, “Explore the Wonders of Turkey in DC,”

and will take visitors on a journey through two continents and thousands of years of

rich history;

A Guinness World Record Attempt for the World’s Longest Shish Kebab;

Culture and Art Section featuring lectures/demonstrations by recognized experts in

Turkish history, culture, arts, and cuisine. In addition to the calligraphy, miniature,

tile making, and paper marbling demonstrations, this year we will also have cooking

demonstrations by Sheilah Kaufman throughout the day;

Ever-popular stage performances featuring dancers, music, and other entertainment.

The performances will highlight not only the rich Turkish culture but also Turkey’s

connections with the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia;

Fine Turkish cuisine from local restaurateurs and caters. In 2009 we had 16 food

vendors thanks to our marketing strategy and to the increasingly positive reputation of

the Festival. This year we are planning to further improve the efficiency of the food

lines by increasing the number of vendors even more and by extending the festival

site by one more block.

Specially designed Coffee and Tea House, with fortune telling;

Turkish Tourism tent with multimedia display and a chance to win a free

tour to Turkey;

Kids’ Activities Area with hands-on activities such as kilim motifs from colored

beans, evil eye beads, and paper weaving;

Arts contest for kids with the support of the Torpedo Factory.

4

A Turkish Bazaar in which arts and crafts vendors of hand-woven textiles, unique

jewelry, pottery, and Turkish music and musical instruments will present and sell

their merchandise.

A Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week before the festival to raise awareness of

Turkish cuisine prior to the Festival.

Extensive marketing and outreach campaign before the festival on the metro stations,

buses, and DC’s premier newspapers and media outlets.

2.4. Initiatives Completed

The 2010 festival committee have already started working in order to accommodate the

increased marketing and programming efforts. Action items completed to date include:

Selection of the committee co-chairs;

Application to, appearance before and approval by the DC Mayor’s Special Event

Task Force

Co-Chairs strategy meeting;

Development and approval of the 2010 festival mission statement;

Festival volunteer kick-off meeting and selection of committee heads;

Festival Committee Members participated at the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure in

Washington, DC

Turkish Festival Kick-off Party and Fundraiser took place on July 17, 2010.

Save the Date postcards are designed, printed and will be distributed in the next few

weeks;

Reserved marketing space at the Metro Station Dioramas and Buses for September.

50% completion of the permitting process as indicated on the 2010 project plan.

2.5 Public Relations/Media Plan

To reach out to a broader audience to promote the Festival we plan to:

Distribute over 15,000 promotional post cards to area bookstores, cafes, museums, and retail

businesses;

Send promotional packets to major media outlets, such as the Washington Post,

Express, WETA, NPR, Washington Times, and their Food and Travel writers inviting

them to the Festival;

Place ads in the Washington Post Weekend, Express (distributed on Metro), The

Examiner, Washington City Paper, and Capital Community News. Last year we

significantly increased our marketing and outreach efforts to attract a much larger

non-Turkish crowd to the festival, which resulted in a drastic rise in the number of

non-Turkish visitors. In 2009, 75% of the visitors were Americans or people from

other countries. We also believe that whether people come to the festival or not, a

bigger marketing and outreach campaign still serves the purpose of raising awareness

of Turkey and the growing Turkish-American presence in the Washington, DC Area.

5

Post advertisements at Metro hubs such as the Metro Center, Dupont Circle, and

McPherson Square

Distribute postcards to the congressional offices of the House of Representatives and

the Senate.

Organize fundraiser and awareness building events for the festival. Already

participated in the Race for the Cure, held a picnic on Sunday, June 20, held a

Turkish Festival Kick-Off Party and Fundraiser at one of the Turkish Restaurant Bars

in DC and scheduled a Turkish Brunch in early Fall to promote the festival and to

raise funds.

Publish a special festival edition of ATA News including sponsorship information.

Distribution will include targeted businesses, other organizations, and the festival site.

In order to expand our online presence, we utilize local art and cultural activities

blogs and other social media including Craigslist and Facebook, as well as notices

posted in neighborhood email listserves.

In 2009 we built a new festival web site reflecting the growing reputation and

professionalism of the Turkish festival. This year we will be able to capitalize on the

same web site.

2.5. Sponsors

We will again pursue a broad base of financial sponsors to defray the programming costs

of the festival. Last year we raised more than $40K from all private businesses mostly in

the Washington, DC Area.

2.6. Festival Committee

1. Hayri Baysal –Co-Chair, Logistics

2. Patsy Jones – Treasurer, and Co-Chair, DC Government Liaison

3. Bora Erdemli – Co-Chair

4. Demet Cabbar – Vice-Chair, Vendors, Entertainment, Marketing, and Sponsorship

5. Elif Ertekin - Food/Culture/Lecture

6. Sema Muslu - Food Vendors

7. Dilek Balli Cobanoglu - Kids' Tent

8. Catherine Jaffe – Grant Applications

9. Burcu Gundogan – Retail Vendors

10. Pinar Guvenir – Volunteers

11. Ahu Baysal – Coffee Tent

12. Gizem Salcigil – Marketing

13. Elif Kaygisiz & Sitki Kazanci – Graphic Design

14. Burak Tombuloglu – Web site

15. Allen Lawrence – Adviser

6

III. Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week

3.1. Overview / Evaluation

Based on the success of the First Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week in Washington,

DC, ATA-DC is organizing the 2nd Annual Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week in

conjunction with the Washington DC Turkish Festival 2010.

Last year’s Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week was organized

with the generous support of the Turkish Cultural Foundation. As

a part of the program, we flew down Chef Channon Mondoux who

delivered an exquisite Cooking Demo at the Sur La Table on 16th

Century Ottoman Cuisine, as well as a Lecture at the Middle East

Institute focusing on the 16th Century Ottoman Cuisine and its

interactions with Persian and Other Middle Eastern Cuisines. Both

events together attracted a very curious and selective crowd of

150.

On the left Chef Channon Mondoux at the

cooking demo featuring 16th

Century

Ottoman Cuisine.

In addition, 7 restaurants offered a special menu

which included a four-course meal for $25.

These restaurant included Café Divan, Café 8,

Meze, Rosemary’s Thyme, Levantes at Dupont

Circle, Temel’s Restaurant, and West Chester.

In 2010 we expect this number to increase.

To promote the First Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week, ATA-DC distributed ten

thousand postcards with TCF logo on them, as well as advertised in the Express Magazine

and the Washington City Paper. (Please see attached)

The 2nd Annual Turkish Restaurant Week is scheduled to take place between September

17 and September 26, 2010, two weeks before the Turkish Festival 2010 in downtown

DC.

7

During the week, participating restaurants will offer a prefix, four-course dinner menu to

customers for a fixed price. In addition, special lectures and cooking sessions featuring

Turkish cuisine will be scheduled during this period when the Washington, DC Greater

Metropolitan Area will celebrate Turkish food and cuisine. This event will not only

promote Turkish cuisine and culture, but also attract vast numbers of customers to Turkish

restaurants in the Greater Washington DC Area.

3.2. Objective

The primary objective of Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week is to promote Turkish

Cuisine in Washington, DC.

In the past 10 years with the support of the Turkish Cultural Foundation, both the number

and the quality of Turkish Festivals in the US have dramatically improved. Turkish

festivals are, certainly, a good way of promoting Turkish food among other aspects of

Turkey. However, the Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week is the only 10-day long event

that focuses on promoting Turkish Cuisine in the US.

When people who visit Turkey are asked what they liked most about it, “food” is very

high up in the list of answers they give. Although Turkish Cuisine is one of the top

cuisines of the World and it is among the top reasons that draw people to Turkey, it does

not receive enough recognition in the US. The Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week is an

effort to fill this gap.

We believe that ATA-DC’s Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week can be easily replicated

in other parts of the US as well down the road.

3.3. How does it work? How do we ensure quality?

Terms and conditions of participating for Restaurants includes:

As a part of the Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week, participating food vendors

are required to offer prefix, three or four-course dinner menu (including salad,

meze platter, entre platter or entre choices, and desert) to customers for a special

price of $25. This special rate will not cover tax, gratuity and beverages.

The prefix menus will be designed by the participating restaurants, but each menu

will be offered with the same name, Turkish Cuisine Restaurant Week ’10.

Furthermore, the bottom line of the menus will read a short statement, which will

promote the 8th Annual Turkish festival. The statement will be provided to the

restaurants by ATA-DC.

ATA-DC undertakes, in conjunction with the 8th Annual Turkish festival, the

advertisement and marketing for this event. Furthermore, a website is going to be

created for this event only.

8

All Promotional materials and newspaper ads will include Turkish Cutural

Foundation Logo on them.

The website, www.turkishrestaurantweekdc.org will include information on each

participating restaurant and the prefixed menu that is being offered by each

restaurant during the restaurant week. The web site will also provide a prominent

link to www.turkish-cuisine.org

Only restaurants that serve Turkish food will be accepted to participate in the

Restaurant Week. (Pizza restaurants or sandwich cafes will not be included).

To ensure that highest quality standard is reached to best promote the

Turkish cuisine, the organizing committee keeps the right to final approval of

participating restaurants.

IV. Budget

For the Annual Turkish Festival and the Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant week, ATA-DC

requests a total grant of $15,000. The table below shows the grant amount we are applying

for this year versus the grant amount we received last year.

2010 2009

Turkish Festival $13,500 $10,000

Turkish Cuisine and

Restaurant Week

$1,500 $2,500

TOTAL $15,000 $12,500

Compared 2009, we are asking slightly more for the Turkish Festival and a reduced

amount for the Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week. (see detailed table below)

The rationale for the need of a smaller contribution for the Turkish Cuisine Week is that

this year more of the cost if being picked up by the participating restaurants. (see detailed

table below)

The rationale for the need for a slight increase in the Turkish Festival Grant is as follows:

Due to the increase in participation and the quality of stage performances, the stage

we have been renting does not sufficiently serve the needs of the festival anymore.

Therefore this year we intend to rent a more professional stage that is larger and

higher from the ground. This adds a cost of another $2,500 on the cost.

We are also increasing our marketing budget to $20,000 to cover marketing in

more media outlets, metro stations, and buses.

In 2009, we received a grant from DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities

(DCCAH). In 2010, we did not receive this grant. When we contacted the

Commission and asked for the reasons, they confirmed that they liked our

application very much however, they grant different communities each year. (Last

9

week, we submitted a grant application to DCCAH for the 2011 Turkish Festival

and hope to receive a grant for next year’s festival.) The lack of DCCAH grant

this year is one of the causes for a bigger grant need from the TCF.

As in the previous years, ATA-DC will raise the rest of the funds from business sponsors,

fundraising activities, vendor registration fees, and festival day Turkish coffee tent, t-shirt

and raffle sales.

If granted, TCF will be the main sponsor of the Turkish Festival and the Sole Sponsor of

the Turkish Cuisine and Restaurant Week. TCF logo will be placed in all marketing,

media, and outreach material as such in a prominent position. TCF banner will be hung in

front of the stage on the day of the festival. TCF will receive 4 Tickets to ATA-DC’s

Republic Day Ball at the end of October 2010. Also a full-page TCF ad will be placed on

ATANEWS ATA-DC’s bi-monthly magazine.

10

A. 2010 FESTIVAL BUDGET

Cost Items Amount

DC Government Licenses and Rent $ 5,000

Mandatory Security Force Expenses $ 10,000

Mandatory Cleaning Services $ 3,000

Mandatory portable restrooms $ 1,000

Volunteer Expenses $ 500

Tents, tables, chairs, easels, boards $ 15,000

Stage and Sound Equipment $ 8,000

Generator Rent $ 1,500

Electrician Fees $ 4,000

Marketing and Outreach (magazine, radio, TV

and metro station ads, $ 20,000

Printing (banners, posters, postcards, t-shirts) $ 3,000

Performer Fees $ 5,000

Performer and Artists Accommodations and

Travel $ 2,000

Culture Tent Expenses $ 2,500

Children’s Activities Expenses $ 2,500

Turkish Coffee and Tea tent Expenses $ 500

Miscellaneous $ 2,500

TOTAL COST $ 86,000

INCOME Amount

Food Vendor Fees $ 20,000

Bazaar Vendor Fees $ 6,000

Fundraising Activities $ 8,000

Sponsorship $ 30,000

Festival Day Sales

(revenues from the sales of Turkish Coffee, T-

shirts, raffle)

$ 13,500

TCF Grant $ 13,500

TOTAL COST $ 86,000

11

B. 2010 Turkish Cuisine Week Budget

Cost Amount

News Paper Ads $ 3,000

Speaker/Cooking Demo Events Rental

Speaker Fees/Honorarium

$ 750

$ 750

Postcards Printing and Mailing $ 600

Posters Printing $ 400

Miscellaneous $ 500

TOTAL COST

$ 6,000

Income Amount

Restaurant Participation Fees

(Estimated 9 restaurants participating)

$ 4,500

TCF Grant $ 1,500

TOTAL INCOME $ 6,000

"Rebecca Oribello" <Rebecca.oribello@natofestival.org> wrote on 07/23/2010

11:35:25 AM:

Turkish Festival

Rebecca Oribello

to: festival

07/23/2010 11:40 AM

Hello,

My name is Rebecca Oribello and I am the Festival Manager for the

Norfolk NATO Festival, an annual Festival held in Norfolk, VA. Our

Festival’s purpose is to honor and celebrate all 28 NATO member

nations and their staff and families living in Hampton Roads while

working at Norfolk’s NATO Headquarters. Each year a NATO member

nation is selected to be the Most Honored Nation and in 2011 we will

be celebrating Turkey. Feel free to visit our website, www.natofestival.org

We honored France in 2010.

The Executive Director, Tristan Warren, and myself recently met with

two member of a local Turkish group, the Turkuaz Foundation and they

told us about your festival. I have visited your website and was

very impressed by all that you offer at your Festival! Since we will

be hosting a event similar to your Festival, we would love the

opportunity to meet with you to learn about what you do and share

ideas and resources. We would be able to come to Washington D.C. to meet.

We are available to travel to Washington D.C in August or September.

Please let me know if there is a specific week that would work best

for you. Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.

Rebecca Oribello

[image removed]

Festival Manager

220 Boush Street, Norfolk VA 23510

P: 757.605.3073 C: 757.705.1230 F: 757.282.2787

www.norfolknatofestival.org

turkishfestivalWASHINGTON DC

Sunday, October 3, 2010 | 11am - 7pmPennsylvania Avenue NW between 12th & 14th Streets

www.turkishfestival.org

SAVE THE

DATE

American-Turkish Association ofWashington DC

1526 18th St. NWWashington, D.C. 20036www.atadc.org

◗ Authentic Turkish Cuisine◗ Traditional Music & Folk Dancing Performances◗ Turkish Arts and Crafts Vendors◗ Kids’ Games, Arts & Crafts◗ Guinness Record Trial for World’s Longest Shish Kebab◗ Turkish Co� eehouse and Fortune Telling◗ Cultural Activities

turkishfestivalWASHINGTON DC

American-Turkish Association of Washington DCwww.atadc.org

ORGANIZED BY MAIN SPONSOR

FREE Admission

Proudly presented by ATA-DC; a non-pro� t organization whose mission is to promote cross cultural understanding between the Turkish and Non-Turkish communities in the DC-area