The 360 Degrees of Love Festival will be held from Feb. 9-29 with the theme "World in Love." The multi-disciplinary festival's publicity meeting, organized with a contribution by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, recently took place in the Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah. The curator and design manager of the festival, Işık Gençoğlu, said if there was no strong ideal behind this festival, such a comprehensive festival could not be organized. Moreover, she criticized those who claim "They have given up." "The most heart-breaking, hurtful thing regarding the art scene in Turkey is an elitist stance - the 'art is for art' stance; I don't agree. Positive thinking prevails in a society fed with culture and art," Gençoğlu said.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Gençoğlu said the festival, organized for the eighth time this year, has drawn attention since the first year, and anyone who gets involved has yet to stop attending the festival over the years. The festival, which began as a very small event and was only held in three venues in its second year, now hosts more than 100 artists. "The venues started following one another. First, we had 20, then 50 and now 100 artists attend the festival," Gençoğlu said.

The Love Festival, supported by the Audrey Hepburn Foundation, offers various projects for children developed together with the foundation. "Audrey Hepburn's son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, is a producer in Los Angeles. He believes in us and in the festival. He believes that it is possible to show the world good days through love, and if such beauties are shown, then hope and peace will follow. Therefore, he is bringing along his production team to shoot a 45-minute film on Istanbul. This is a one-in-a-million chance and something that may not have been achieved even with the support of the government with millions of dollars. We feel lucky," Gençoğlu said.The Love Festival, supported by the Audrey Hepburn Foundation, offers various projects for children developed together with the foundation. "Audrey Hepburn's son, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, is a producer in Los Angeles. He believes in us and in the festival. He believes that it is possible to show the world good days through love, and if such beauties are shown, then hope and peace will follow. Therefore, he is bringing along his production team to shoot a 45-minute film on Istanbul. This is a one-in-a-million chance and something that may not have been achieved even with the support of the government with millions of dollars. We feel lucky," Gençoğlu said.

She added that Ferrer will attend the conference at Kadir Has University to talk about his mother, the foundation's aims and help communicate their message to the rest of the world. The festival targets children and strives to introduce art to them so they can see, try and admire it. The festival coincides with Valentine's Day events on Feb. 14, and Gençoğlu stressed that Turkey's culture and arts industry has always embraced and repeated internationally important events, so they focused on creating an international brand, a local brand. "While we aren't against celebrating Valentine's Day, with a bit of criticism, we are turning the month of February into a month of lovers, and Istanbul will be the heart of it," Gençoğlu said.

Both local and international artists will attend the festival, and the festival aims to highlight that art is not just for a certain community but the whole nation. Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah General Manager and member of the advisory committee, Pınar Kartal Timer, also emphasized that they are striving to turn the festival into an international event. She said Istanbul is an international brand and that striking events are crucial to getting ahead of global competition. Timer said since Istanbul is one of the few cities that are cited as a city of love, turning this festival into an international event is crucial for promoting the city.

Festival partner Think Free's founder, Olgar Ataseven, said the festival events will be held at Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah, Uniq Istanbul, the Uniq Gallery, Palladium AVM, Capacity AVM and the Adahan Hotel. The Galata Lodge of Mevlevi Dervishes will host the "Chants of Love Night," Uniq will host the "Lovers' Market" and Kadir Has University will host the "Those Talking about Love" conference. Other activities and events include the "Sky Lanterns" event, Mercan Dede and Hayko Cepkin's "Concert of Love," the "Love of Istanbul" discussion at Pera Palace Hotel Jumeirah, "Love Films' Marathon" and discussions on Sufism.