You can give support in the amount of 1,000 TL or more by filling the form at www.omuz.org/destek-ver/. If this amount is above your budget, you can come together with friends to create a shared resource of 1,000TL. You can also become an Omuz volunteer. If you do and want to participate in the meetings or offer non-financial support, you can send an e-mail to omuz.iletisim@gmail.com. You can also contribute by sharing Omuz’s social media posts as a means to build awareness and to expand this solidarity network.

Omuz volunteers change every three months. In each Omuz period, there are new volunteers, as well as past volunteers who transfer experience from the previous periods. This format aims to create a non-hierarchical and smooth operational model. The primary role of the volunteers is to contact people from their close circles who can provide support and work to build an environment of trust. By informing individuals who can financially support or volunteer for Omuz, they aim to expand the solidarity network. Volunteers also continue to work to provide support in areas such as health, food, and sharing of physical resources so that needs can be more definable in the future.

Omuz was established following discussions between a group of artists and artworkers on economic difficulties and social insecurities that became more visible with the pandemic. The aim was to provide immediate support to individuals working in visual arts. Omuz does not have an institutional structure—Omuz is not an association, foundation or cooperative. Omuz’s mission is to act as a liaison between those who want to receive support and those who want to provide support, and to be a facilitator for sharing resources.

The only condition for receiving support from Omuz is to be part of the visual arts ecosystem. While this statement is broad in scope, it helps define the actors in the field; from artists to accountants, transporters to curators, art magazine distributors to sculpture molders, writers to studio assistants, framers to gallery workers, editors, and many more. The aim of Omuz is to draw attention to the fact that these professionals are essential components of the visual arts ecosystem, and that their precariousness (especially in financial terms) have been exacerbated by the pandemic. We hope that what we have started with Omuz will eventually lead to the foundation of a solidarity-based association.

It is not possible for you to know the individual you are going to support beforehand, as it is determined through a software that randomly makes the selection process. With Omuz, we believed that we must first rethink mutual trust and unconditional resource sharing. Since Omuz does not have a legal entity, it is impossible to confirm the actual needs of those who apply for support; therefore, we believe that the declaration of individuals who apply for support is sufficient for now.