Exorbitant Price Increases at Devlet Tiyatroları Are Blocking the Public's Right of Access to Art!

As Kültür Emekçileri Sendikası, we condemn the exorbitant ticket price hike implemented by Devlet Tiyatroları — an institution of the non-profit social-state tradition — as of April 1st, and we wish to state that this decision is blocking the public's right of access to art!

Regular play tickets have been raised from 70–110 TL to 330–450 TL, and musical play tickets from 115–170 TL to 450–660 TL. These price hikes have made it nearly impossible for working people who earn their living through honest labor to access theatre.

One of the founding purposes of Devlet Tiyatroları is to offer quality art at prices accessible to every citizen across the country. However, these increases cast a shadow over the decades-long history of State Theatres and openly violate its founding mission.

These increases mean ticket prices have risen at the same rate in every region, further disadvantaging arts enthusiasts in lower-income areas. While our public already indirectly sustains our state arts institutions through the high taxes they pay, asking them to pay an exorbitant fee on top of that is incompatible with the principle of the social state.

OUR PROPOSED SOLUTION: As Kültür Emekçileri Sendikası, we demand the immediate reversal of this exorbitant price hike! Instead, we propose that ticket prices be increased only at the rate of civil servant salary raises. In this way, both the public's right of access to art will be protected and the sustainability of our theatres will be ensured.

Devlet Tiyatroları belongs to the people — not to a privileged few — and must remain so!

KÜLTÜR EMEKÇİLERİ SENDİKASI