A 3 million euros award from Horizon Europe prompts artists and academics from 12 countries to create new futures for arts education.

The European Commission has announced that it will award nearly 3 million Euros to a consortium of 13 universities and arts organizations across Europe and the South Pacific, to collaborate for three years and advance cultural democracy.

The project is entitled “Intercultural and Transcultural Competence Through Collaborative Cultural Expression” (INTRACOMP), and will develop global, regional and national educational frameworks and policy directives for arts and culture.

Coordinated by Nord University, the INTRACOMP project is led by Nicholas Rowe, UNESCO Chair in Dance and Social Inclusion and a professor in Dance Studies at Nord University in Norway and the University of Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand.

He asks, “What is the role of arts education, in an era of forced mass migration? As climate mobility, political and environmental disasters and economic collapse increase across the globe, how we learn to collaborate and participate through the arts will have a huge impact on social inclusion, diversity and equality in the future.”

To explore how the world might more effectively collaborate across cultures through dance, music and drama education, the INTRACOMP consortium brings together universities and community-based arts organizations in Norway, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Italy, the UK, Serbia, Slovakia, Greece, Hungary, Aotearoa New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

With a focus on forced migration and social cohesion, the project seeks to redefine the role of arts in education.

Rowe continues, “This project provides a unique opportunity for experts in arts, education, culture, sociology, psychology, public policy and technology to explore how we might create a more supportive global ecosystem for cultural collaboration. We need to establish a more equitable space for cultural interaction that challenges a Eurocentric domination of cultural ideals and allows every person and every culture to find a place to belong.”

In this ambitious quest, INTRACOMP gathers leading artists and academics from Nord University, the University of Auckland, the University of Verona, the University of Jyväskylä, the University of Hildesheim, the European Network of Cultural Centres, In Place of War, the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies, LATRA, Kulturanova, Divadlo Bez Domova, Pro Progressione and Sutta Scupa.

Over the next three years, this transdisciplinary, cross-sectoral team will work to transform policies, practices and public pedagogies associated with culture and education.

Prof. Marta Milani, Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy, will lead the Centre for Intercultural Studies team of the University of Verona formed by Dr. Emanuela Piccolo, Dr. Sara Salmi and Dr. Martina Guerinoni.

As Rowe argues, “By participating in the arts, we can re-imagine the world.”

For further information, contact:

• Project Leader Professor Nicholas Rowe (intracomp@nord.no)
• Project Manager Hanne Silje Hauge (intracomp@nord.no)