Gizem Gezenoğlu

With approximately 15 years of experience in fundraising and festival management in the culture and arts sector, Gizem Gezenoğlu founded the consultancy company Fermente in 2017 to work in this field. Through Fermente, she offers consultancy and implementation services in fundraising and revenue growth management, aiming to increase the profitability of institutions and projects operating in the creative industries. Alongside her work at Fermente, she served as festival director for eight years as co-founder of Bozcaada Jazz Festival. She also served for four years as founding president of Türkiye Jazz Network, which brings together festivals, venues, and organizations focused on jazz and improvised music in Türkiye. She continues to bring her sector experience into academia; as a part-time lecturer at Yeditepe University’s Arts and Cultural Management Department, she teaches “Event Management” and “Performing Arts Business.” After completing her undergraduate degree at Istanbul Bilgi University’s Performing Arts Management Department, Gizem completed the Business Administration Master’s Program (MBA) at the same university and uses both her academic background and field experience to design various training programs in her field. Gizem wrote her MBA capstone project on “Revenue Growth Management and Financial Sustainability in Festivals” and conducts work focused on the experience economy and business management. Although she does not pursue her work in the area of her enduring interest in different cultures and their food and drink habits, she drew a path for her company from this inspiration. In fact, the name “Fermente” comes from here: inspired by fermentation processes and the unexpected flavors they produce, she gave her company the name “Fermente.”