Filiz Taylan Yuzak

I’m an artist and creative producer with a wealth of experience of founding arts ventures and running arts venues, programmes, events, exhibitions and festivals – with a focus on fun and innovative approaches to animating underused spaces. Most recently I’ve had the privilege of setting up Saint John’s Arts’ Programme, collaborating with a large Education Trust to provide new exciting opportunities for young people to get involved in the arts in Gosport. I’ve also worked as Producer for Journeys Festival International, and held previous roles at ArtSpace Portsmouth, Liverpool Biennial and founded The Royal Standard (gallery, studios and social workspace), and Mighty Oak Creative Agency.

I am a community archaeologist & wellbeing facilitator. I love to discover and tell untold stories from the past & to help people discover history & engage in cultural heritage. I help heritage organisations with community engagement, co-creation, education, outreach & interpretation. I offer public historical walks and talks. I am passionate about the role heritage can play in wellbeing & communities. I enjoy taking heritage into care settings & groups, with through reminiscence & object handling. I have completed the Green Dementia Care programme am looking forward to offering Elders of the Woods sessions very soon. In community venues, I run Arts, Crafts & Archaeology workshops & work with social prescribers.  

I am a theatre-maker and director working across Hampshire and the UK. My background is in new writing and site-responsive performance; I ran High Hearted Theatre with writer Marcelo Dos Santos, making productions for Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, Southwark Playhouse, Brighton Fringe, Omnibus London and more. I currently work mostly in participatory practice and co-creation, creating work in collaboration with professional creatives and communities. I am also an artist-researcher with a particular interest in place, space and identity, and how theatre for social change.