dialoguing@rts – Advancing Cultural Literacy for Social Inclusion through Dialogical Arts Education

Project Information

d@rts

Grant agreement ID: 101132352

DOI

10.3030/101132352

EC signature date 26 October 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 30 June 2027

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 2 999 968,75

EU contribution

€ 2 999 968,75

Coordinated by

NORD UNIVERSITET
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - d@rts (dialoguing@rts – Advancing Cultural Literacy for Social Inclusion through Dialogical Arts Education)

Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2026-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Societal transformations such as globalization, digitalization, and migration challenge social cohesion and inclusion in an increasingly diverse Europe. The d@rts project responds to these challenges by positioning performing arts education as a key enabler of cultural literacy, enhancing dialogue across social and cultural divides.

At its core, d@rts investigates and implements innovative arts education practices in music, dance, and drama that foster social inclusion through dialogical engagement. By leveraging the embodied, expressive, and interactive nature of the performing arts, the project advances cultural literacy as a dialogical practice that allows meaningful engagement with diversity. Our dialogical conceptualization of cultural literacy moves beyond knowledge acquisition, and emphasizes participation in inclusive encounters, in turn addressing prejudices, discrimination, and monocultural attitudes.

The project integrates interdisciplinary research and participatory innovation, examining policies, curricula, and practices across formal and non-formal education in five European countries (Norway, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Serbia) and two non-European countries (Uganda and Aotearoa/New Zealand). d@rts adopts a comparative and multi-sited approach, exploring diverse arts education practices, developing new methodologies, and co-creating arts-based innovations to strengthen cultural literacy and social inclusion.

The expected impact of d@rts is multifaceted. Through its research and participatory arts education innovations, the project generates evidence on how cultural literacy enhances social inclusion. Furthermore, it contributes to the development of cultural and educational policies, providing innovative pedagogical frameworks, and enhancing the capacity of educators, artists, and community actors. The project's digital component — a dialoguing-platform and playground — further sustains international exchange of ideas and practices, ensuring long-term impact and accessibility. By engaging a diverse set of stakeholders, including marginalized groups, policymakers, educators, and cultural institutions, d@rts envisions a future where performing arts education actively contribute to building cohesive and inclusive societies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In its second year, d@rts moved from establishing foundations to putting ideas into practice — in schools, community arts settings, and online. Work continued across all seven partner countries (Norway, Finland, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Uganda and Aotearoa/New Zealand), exploring how music, dance and drama help people of different backgrounds understand one another and build more inclusive communities.

Analytical and Policy Foundations
Framework of Analysis: The project completed the framework guiding its research — concepts and tools for understanding cultural literacy in arts education and observing it in practice.
Strengthened Foundational Studies: An earlier literature review (incorporating Indigenous knowledge and decolonial perspectives) and a comparative analysis of curricula and cultural policies were revised following reviewer recommendations.
Policy Recommendations: An interim set of recommendations was produced for five partner countries and the EU level, alongside "Decolonise This…", a card game developed as a research and training tool.

Empirical Research and Case Studies
Comparative Survey: A survey of formal and non-formal arts education was completed across all seven countries (1,461 responses), with methods adapted to engage respectfully with Indigenous communities. Analysis is underway.
Fieldwork: Researchers conducted fieldwork in 14 settings across six countries, generating early findings on enablers and constraints in cultural literacy.

Community Implementation and Evaluation Tools
DIALOGART Format: The project's community arts approach launched in four countries, bringing people together through music, theatre, dance and combined art forms to share stories and dialogue.
Assessment and Evaluation: The team trialled ways of recognising what participants and institutions gain, including 40 brainstorming and 30 self-evaluation sessions with 60 participants, and designed a tool for assessing the competences institutions need for cultural literacy.

Digital Infrastructure and Dissemination
Digital Platform: An interactive online platform and creative "playground" launched, giving communities a shared space to connect, exchange ideas and showcase work.
Knowledge Exchange: Two joint events were held with sister projects CliViE and Expect_Art.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Building on the conceptual foundations of RP1, RP2 has produced results that advance cultural literacy research and arts education in several interconnected ways.

- Cultural Literacy as Locally Enacted Practice: WP3's cross-cluster fieldwork consistently shows cultural literacy is practised before it is conceptualised — articulated by tradition-bearers carrying embodied knowledge, artists positioning themselves as guests in another community's culture, and children directing adult researchers. This cross-contextual finding moves beyond existing intercultural competence frameworks.

- From Postcolonial Framework to Operational Tool: RP2 operationalised RP1's postcolonial lens: the decolonial framework has been concretised in the "Decolonise This…" card game — a distributable tool for fostering eye-level exchange among researchers, educators, policymakers and communities, developed across three continents.

- Empirical Scale and Methodology: d@rts challenges the field's dominance of small-scale studies through 14 ethnographic case studies, 1,461 questionnaire responses from seven countries, and simultaneous DIALOGART implementations in four countries — integrating duoethnography, co-researcher models and large-scale survey research.

- Institutional Gaps as a Structural Finding: A consistent cross-cluster finding is the gap between institutional self-presentation and everyday practice: the embodied, relational work that enacts cultural literacy is largely invisible in strategy documents and metrics. Evidencing this across 14 cases in six countries goes beyond existing literature on institutional change in arts education.

- Key Exploitable Results and Further Uptake: The project's Key Exploitable Results — the DIALOGART format, the Portfolios of Individual and Collective Competences, the "Decolonise This…" card game, the Digital Dialoguing-Platform, and the intermediary policy brief — are designed for uptake beyond the consortium, through embedding in teacher education, post-project platform hosting, and policy reach via the End-User Board and cluster collaboration. With 25 publications under development or review — exceeding the DoA target of 18 — the evidence base is well positioned to support further research and practical uptake.