Can arts education and performing arts such as music, dance and theatre contribute to strengthening social coherence, promoting dialogue and raising awareness for mutual understanding and the value of cultural diversity?
The d@rts research and innovation project has set itself the goal of finding answers to these questions. d@rts or dialoguing@rts stands for 'Advancing Cultural Literacy for Social Inclusion through Dialogical Arts Education'. Only 3 out of a total of 18 applications to a newly launched call for research investigating issues of cultural literacy were granted, with d@rts receiving the highest possible score. This makes d@rts one of the first research projects within the field of arts education that has ever been funded through the European Union's research funding programme Horizon Europe.
Kick-off Meeting:
On 18th January 2024, the Dialoguing@rts partners met online to officially kick off the project. Over 75 participants joined the meeting to either present or get to know more about the project.
The project partners:
The d@rts project consortium is chaired by the Norwegian University Nord. Project partners also include institutions and organisations from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Finland and Serbia, as well as from two non- European countries, Uganda and Aotearoa/New Zealand. d@rts also establishes links with a large number of European networks in the fields of music, dance and theatre, which do not conduct research themselves, but are precious and valuable as input providers and testing grounds for d@rts. These networks also ensure the widest possible international dissemination of the project outcomes, even beyond the project's lifetime.
What is d@rts about?
The EU is expecting the project results to provide data that will help to plan future strategies in the areas of educational, cultural and social policy on a sound scientific basis.
The following is mentioned in this context:
- ideas and concepts for increasing the cultural competence of European citizens with the aim of reinforcing social belonging and integration;
- strengthening the ability to deal with cultural differences and to deepen one's own identity through respectful interaction with people with different backgrounds;
- promoting diversity and inclusion in the arts and in cultural education, not only within but also outside traditional institutions.
As part of the project, research studies will be carried out to analyse existing educational practices in the fields of dance, music and drama. A special focus is also placed on the development, testing and research of innovative formats to stimulate art-related dialogues.
