The Flying Carpet Festival has announced its much-anticipated return for 2025, once again bringing together global artists, musicians, and performers to one of the world's most geopolitically fragile yet culturally rich regions.
From August 30th to September 10th, 2025, the festival will animate the cities of Mardin, K?z?ltepe, Nusaybin, and surrounding areas with music, circus, poetry, and performance-transforming public squares, schools, and parks into sanctuaries of wonder and joy for children and families living near the Turkish-Syrian border.
Now in its 7th edition, the Flying Carpet Festival is the first mobile arts festival in the world dedicated to children living in conflict zones and underserved areas. Founded in 2018 by Iranian-American composer and TED Fellow Sahba Aminikia, in partnership with Her Yerde Sanat Derne?i (Art Anywhere Association) (aka Sirkhane)-the first social circus school in Türkiye-the festival has become a beacon of hope and a symbol of radical imagination and artistic solidarity across borders.
ach year, the festival gathers over 40 International Artists for a creative residency rooted in storytelling, collaboration, and healing. Through workshops and performances, these artists engage with local communities and youth artists of Syrian, Turkish, Kurdish, and other ethnic origins to co-create a rich, multidisciplinary performance rooted in myth, resilience, and shared humanity.
The 2025 festival theme is inspired by "Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi-a tale of transformation, freedom, and becoming truly human. This story will be interpreted through circus, music, dance, poetry, and projection in a production that challenges the strings of external control and celebrates agency, creativity, and connection.
Since its founding, Flying Carpet Festival has reached over 33,000 children, offered 70 public large performances and 550+ educational workshops, and hosted more than 190 International Artists. The festival has been featured in outlets such as TED, NPR, Associated Press, Politico, San Francisco Chronicle, and Kulturaustausch.
The 2025 artist lineup includes 46 artists from 20 countries, among them:
Cansu Akdeniz (Türkiye)
Ibrahim Al-baddah (Syria)
Sahba Aminikia (Iran/United States)
Soheila Bajelan (Iran)
Hans Blichert (Canada)
Micaela Bottari (United States)
Colter Bowers (United States)
Nika Braun (Brazil/Luxembourg)
Sam Brukham (United States)
Muhammed Said Ceylan (Türkiye)
Aftab Darvishi (Iran/Netherlands)
Ava Darvishi (Iran)
Nima Dehghani (Iran/United States)
Ibrahim El Attar (Palestine)
Torfeh Ekhlasi (Iran)
Naghmeh Farzaneh (Iran/United States)
Noémy Gagnon-Lafrenais (Canada)
Arya Ghavamian (United States/Iran)
Laura Jehle (Netherlands)
Zara Houshmand (United States)
Esther Kasenda (Netherlands)
Collin Kemeny (United States)
Aaron Kierbel (United States)
Anika Krbetschek (Germany)
Berna Kupeli (Türkiye)
Giovanni Laporta (Italy)
Rasa Mahmoudi (Iran/United States)
Naghmeh Manavi (Iran)
Samira Memarzadeh (Germany)
Ozgur Mert (Türkiye)
Mpho Molikeng (Lesotho)
Negar Najibolashrafi (Iran)
Hanna Nikalayeva (Belarus)
Aida Noshali (Iran)
Foram Patel (India)
Tobias Pöcksteiner (Austria)
Kamelia Rashidi (France/Iran)
Palina Rusakovich (Belarus)
Midori Samson (United States)
Alexandre Seim (Canada)
Harshil Shah (India)
Helia Shariati (Iran)
Shayan Shariat (Iran)
Shadi Vedaei (Iran)
Zahra Yazdani Nia (Iran)
Hojjat Zeinali (Iran)
